Dry cough

Dry cough is a type of cough. In clinical practice, a productive wet cough is also distinguished, which is characterized by the separation of sputum.

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What diseases cause dry cough?

For some diseases, only a dry cough is typical, for others, especially inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system, a productive cough usually replaces an unproductive one. In some cases (for example, with acute laryngitis), after the wet cough phase, a non-productive cough phase is again noted, which occurs due to a decrease in the sensitivity threshold of cough receptors. In the latter case, when a dry cough dominates, the prescription of antitussives rather than expectorants is pathogenetically justified.

A dry cough, paroxysmal, debilitating and not bringing relief, is typical for:

• early stages of acute bronchitis,
• pneumonia (especially viral),
• pulmonary infarction,
• the initial period of an asthma attack,
• pleurisy;
• pulmonary embolism.

Dry cough in acute bronchitis is often preceded by a feeling of tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing. Also, such a dry cough occurs in response to inhalation of substances that irritate the mucous membrane or the entry of a foreign body into the lumen of the respiratory tract.

• A dry cough - non-paroxysmal, long-lasting, painful - is usually observed in:
  • endobronchial tumor growth;
  • compression of a large bronchus or trachea from the outside (for example, by enlarged lymph nodes of the mediastinum);
  • pulmonary fibrosis;
  • congestive heart failure.
• In extreme cases, inhalation between coughing fits may resemble stridor - a whistling noise caused by difficulty breathing due to a sharp narrowing of the lumen of the larynx, trachea or bronchi.
• Against the background of suffocation, it is typical for cardiac asthma (interstitial pulmonary edema) and is characterized by the sudden onset of a non-productive cough: as the edema progresses to the alveolar stage, the dry cough becomes productive - foamy pink sputum begins to be released.
• If the coughing fit is prolonged, swelling of the veins of the neck and the appearance of cyanosis of the face and neck (venous blood stagnation due to increased intrathoracic pressure and difficulty in outflow) can be observed.
• Whooping cough is characterized by a paroxysmal, dry cough.

Sometimes a dry cough is accompanied by pain, which becomes more pronounced when the pleura is involved, especially with a deep breath, which usually ends a coughing fit.

What can complicate a dry cough?

A prolonged paroxysmal dry cough may be complicated by pneumomediastinum (air breakthrough into the mediastinum with subsequent development of subcutaneous emphysema) and pneumothorax (air penetration into the pleural cavity due to rupture of the visceral or parietal pleura). In this case, a dry cough is fraught with the formation of valvular pneumothorax, when with the next inhalation, some air enters the pleural cavity, increasing compression atelectasis of the lung.