Irritant cough cannot be compared with lung cancer. Irritant cough is a symptom, while lung cancer is a disease, whereas lung cancer patients may experience coughing symptoms. Irritant cough is mainly a reflex cough triggered by physical and chemical stimulation of the throat, trachea and bronchial tubes. Lung cancer patients often have cough symptoms in the early stage, which mostly manifests as paroxysmal irritating dry cough with no or little sputum. However, due to the differences in tumor growth site, size and metastasis of lung cancer patients, the cough performance is not the same. If the tumor obstructs the airway and causes cough aggravation, there may be persistent high-pitched metallic cough or choking cough, which is not easy to be controlled by cough suppressants. Meanwhile, lung cancer patients may also have symptoms such as blood in sputum, hemoptysis and dyspnea. It is recommended that patients should go to regular hospitals in time after the symptoms of irritating dry cough appear, and if lung cancer is clearly diagnosed, they should also be treated under the guidance of doctors.