General surgeons encounter a significant number of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease. During the course of their disease, these patients may develop complications that require emergency surgery, such as acute bowel obstruction, life-threatening gastrointestinal hemorrhage, septic shock due to bowel perforation and toxic megacolon. These complications need to be identified quickly and managed appropriately. Surgical strategies in patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease may differ from those usually adopted in patients with other gastrointestinal pathologies.