Background: Nowadays, flap surgery is a dependable reconstructive technique. It makes it possible to heal nearly any vascularized tissue defect in the body. The present work aimed to assess the effectiveness of flap blood glucose measurement as a sensitive and reliable indicator in early detection of venous congestion.

Methods: In an experimental study, twenty-six adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to vertical rectus abdominis muscle flaps with upper pedicles, were split into two equal groups (n=13): with venous occlusion of the pedicle (Cases group) and without (Control group). Between the beginning and end of the experiment, we monitored the rats' glycemia in the caudal vein of their feet at regular intervals of ten minutes, and we measured the interstitial glucose in the flaps every ten minutes.

Results: Statistically significant decrease was revealed at 0 min, 20 min, and 30 min of flap glucose level when compared with 0 min, 20 min, 30 min foot glucose level (p=0.01, p=0.005, p=0.002 respectively), and high statistically significant decrease was revealed at 10 min, 40 min, 50 min, 1-hour of flap glucose level when compared with 10 min foot glucose level (p-value < 0.001).

Conclusion: Monitoring blood glucose levels may serve as a promising indicator for detecting venous congestion in tissue flaps, offering a non-invasive and cost-effective approach for early intervention.