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What Is A Muscle Transplant?
Free functional muscle transplant involves taking an “expendable” muscle and transplanting it somewhere else in the body to restore movement. For example, the gracilis muscle from the inside of the thigh is one of many adductors (muscles that pull the thighs together).

It is the smallest of the bunch and losing this one muscle appears to be without any detrimental functional consequence. This muscle (among others) may be transplanted to replace the biceps in the arm, for example.

The transplanted muscle must be connected to an artery and vein in its new location to keep the muscle alive. It then must be connected to a healthy nerve so that it can be used to move the limb.

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    Just like with a tendon transfers, there is no time limit for performing free functional muscle transplants. This technique of reversing paralysis can be used to restore muscle function many years after you may have sustained the initial injury. At the Paralysis Center, our Paralysis Specialists use a muscle transplant to help restore some very basic arm or hand function to patients who have suffered a paralyzing injury and the time window has ended for primary nerve repair.

    Unlike in nerve reconstruction, there are no time constraints for performing a free functional muscle transplant. Some patients have undergone this procedure even a decade after their injury and recovered useful function.

    Following this procedure, the patient must remain in the hospital for several days to ensure that the vessels to the new muscle continue to flow effectively in order for it to stay alive and function in an effective manner. Once the muscle “takes” it will still be some time before it begins to function. Just like in any other nerve repair, a nerve is sutured to the nerve that controls this transplanted muscle. The axons must still grow from that repair site 1mm per day until they reach the muscle and cause it to contract. Because the distance is usually shorter than other nerve repairs, it may be a shorter wait than some other nerve repairs. Your surgeon at the Paralysis Center will select free functional muscle transplant, tendon transfer, nerve transfer, nerve graft, nerve release, or other treatment depending on which techniques offer you the very best chance of recovery for your condition.

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    I just recovered the ability to dress myself – that was a big thing! I can get my own shirt on, can get my hands above my head – that was huge for me, and really changed my whole outlook.
    Davis – Patient
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