Vascular injuries are potentially life or limb threatening.Vascular trauma occurs in 1.6% of civilian injuries (1) and6.8% to 10.8% in war related injuries (Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon war). In a study done at the National hospital of SriLanka Colombo (NHSL) out of 5802 trauma admissions there were 93 patients with vascular injuries (VI). Therefore the incidence of VI in civilian trauma is 1.6% (1). After the end of civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009 there is a reduction in the number of war related vascular injuries. But due to the increase in the number of Road Traffic Accidents (RTA), the number of vascular trauma also increased (i.e. from 1938 to 2013 road traffic injuries increased from 35.1 to 98.6 per 100000 population in Sri Lanka). One of the reasons for this is the increased number two and three wheeled vehicles which are involved more with accidents (2). Trauma and vascular  injuries often involve young males. They are the breadwinners of the family. In one study done at the Teaching Hospital Anuradhapura (THA) among patients presenting with popliteal arterial injuries, 18 (90%) were males with a mean age of 38.7 years (2). And in another study done at the same institution among patients with major lower limb arterial injuries, 22 (87.5%) were males and the mean age was  36.9 years (3). These studies confirm the fact of young malesoften getting involved with vascular injuries.

“Vascular injury” is a nonspecific term. Because this is used to describe the injuries to blood vessels in all parts of the body and injuries to the arteries and veins. Injuries to the blood vessels of the limbs are called extremity vascular injuries (EVI