Objective: To study the clinical value of argon plasma coagulation combined with cryotherapy in treating lung cancer patients with central airway obstruction. Methods: 80 lung cancer patients with central airway obstruction, who were treated in our hospital from Jan.2014 to Jan.2015, were registered in the study. The subjectives were divided into observation group (n=40) and control group (n=40) according to the Random Number Table. The observation group was treated with argon plasma coagulation combined with cryotherapy, while the control group was given radiotherapy in tracheal cavity. Improvement of symptoms, parameters of lung function (by the forced vital capacity, FVC), one-second forced expiratory volume (FEV1), life quality Karnofsky score, anxiety SAS score, depression SDS score and airway recanalization status were compared and analyzed between the two groups. Results: More patients improved theire symptoms of cough, chest pain, dyspnea and hemoptysis status in the observation group than those in the control group in (P<0.05). After the treatment, the FVC and FEV₁ of observation group were higher than those of control group (P<0.05); Comparing to the control group, the polypnea level, SAS and SDS scores were lower in the observation group (P<0.05). Furthermore, the Karofsky score in the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). There were no statistical differences in adverse reaction rate between the two groups (P>0.05) and the efficiency rate of was higher in the observation group[97.5% (39/40)] when compared to the control group[65.0% (26/40)] (P<0.05). Conclusions: Argon plasma coagulation combined with cryotherapy is promising in improving life quality and relieving psychological burden in lung cancer patients with central airway obstruction, and the overall clinical efficacy is better than tracheal cavity radiotherapy.