Recovery of function in free muscle transplants using microneurovascular anastomoses.

Using the rectus femoris muscle of the rabbit, the functional capabilities of the normal and replanted muscle were studied after tenotomy, simple neurovascular repair, and orthotopic and heterotopic transplantation. Tenotomy alone altered the function more than did neurovascular repair, and although a muscle survived after replantation, it never achieved the functional capability of the normal muscle, maximum working capacity being only one fourth of the normal.