Recent advances in breast reconstruction: transposition of the latissimus dorsi muscle singly or with the overlying skin.

This article presents the details of an operation for the transposition of the latissimus dorsi muscle as an integral part of the reconstruction of the breast. Muscle alone may be transposed to restore lost pectoralis major muscle contour following the standard Halsted radical mastectomy, or a compound island flap of skin and muscle may be used to replace both the resected muscle and skin.