What condition should you suspect in a patient with sudden onset chest pain and dyspnea, especially after recent hip surgery?

In patients who present with sudden onset chest pain and dyspnea after recent surgery, particularly hip surgery, pulmonary embolism should be strongly suspected. This is due to the increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) following prolonged immobility and surgical procedures, especially in the lower extremities. If a clot from a DVT dislodges, it can travel to the pulmonary arteries, causing a blockage that results in pulmonary embolism. Symptoms often include acute chest pain, difficulty breathing, and sometimes hemoptysis, fitting the described scenario well.

While myocardial infarction can also present with similar symptoms, the context of recent hip surgery makes pulmonary embolism a more likely cause in this scenario. Aortic dissection typically involves severe, tearing chest pain and may also radiate to the back, and while it could cause dyspnea, it is less directly related to the recent surgical history presented here. Pneumothorax usually results in sudden chest pain and dyspnea too, but it is generally associated with trauma or underlying lung conditions rather than recent hip surgery. Therefore, the rapid presentation of symptoms alongside the recent surgical history aligns best with the characteristics of a pulmonary embolism.