[A little cough--it is but a minor problem... That can be a dangerous error!]

Although coughing is a useful defensive mechanism, it is, unfortunately, completely non-specific. Almost every pulmonary disease (and a number of extrapulmonary conditions as well) is associated with a cough. In many cases the problem is inflammation to the respiratory mucosae, but also, lamentably, to an increasing extent, a malignant tumour. The commonly heard diagnosis "psychogenic cough" is in reality a real rarity. A 14-point diagnostic program enables a reliable etiological diagnosis to be made in about 90% of the cases, and thus points to the appropriate causal treatment. In all the other cases, there remains antitussive medication--which, however, is still unsatisfactory in severe cases. Of major importance, however, is to ensure that symptomatic treatment with cough inhibitors does not lead to a delay in establishing the diagnosis and thus in initiating essential causal treatment.