National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (NBOCC)

Breast reconstruction using abdominal muscle transfer usually involves moving a flap of muscle, fat and skin from the stomach to the chest to form a new breast ‘mound’. There are different ways of moving the tissue from the stomach to the chest. This type of operation may not be possible if a woman doesn’t have enough tissue on her stomach.

Advantages of breast reconstruction using abdominal muscle transfer:

• it produces the most natural looking breast
• the reconstructed breast will change in size if the woman gains or loses weight.

Disadvantages of breast reconstruction using abdominal muscle transfer:

• the woman will have a scar across her stomach
• the woman could lose strength in her stomach muscles
• the woman may be at risk of developing a hernia
• there’s a small risk the tissue moved to the chest will not ‘take’, meaning the tissue will die; if this happens another operation will be needed
• the hospital stay and recovery time will be longer than with implant-only reconstruction
• the woman will not be able to drive or lift heavy objects for several weeks after surgery.