Cihoric M, Kehlet H, Lauritsen ML, et al. - Emergency high‐risk abdominal surgery is mainly conducted in following disease etiologies: intestinal obstruction and perforated viscus. In order to attain improvement in patient assessment in the perioperative phase, the inflammatory response was examined in this setting, focusing on potential difference in pathophysiology. Researchers here reviewed the electronic medical records of 487 patients who underwent emergency abdominal surgery for intestinal obstruction and perforated viscus. Of these patients, 418 were included. Patients with perforated viscus (n = 203) exhibited significantly higher pre‐ and postoperative absolute CRP values than those with intestinal perforation (n = 215). Findings from this explorative study revealed that patients with intestinal obstruction, but not patients with perforated viscus, showed worse outcome in correlation with a high pre‐ and postoperative CRP and a high positive fluid balance.