hello all this is dr alsup and in this video we will be discussing the inguinal canal
now the inguinal canal is a rather complex region and you can
really get lost in some of the details so we are going to focus on the most foundational
and high-yield concepts here in terms of both structure and contents of the inguinal canal
so the the inguinal canal is in the general inguinal region so that inferior portion of
the anterolateral abdominal wall often referred to as the superior groin region the inguinal canal is
an actual structure it's often referred to as a natural pathway within the inguinal region
it generally is collapsed except for the contents within it's going to extend between
two naturally occurring openings or apertures so the first or the entrance or internal aperture
is the deep inguinal ring which is formed by an invagination of the transversalis fascia so recall
transversalis fascia is one of those deep layers of the anterior and anterolateral abdominal wall
you can see the general region of the deep inguinal ring in this image
it's in one of the potential contents of the inguinal canal traversing it so that round
ligament of the uterus will actually traverse the inguinal canal the deep inguinal ring is located
lateral to the inferior epigastric vessels or the lateral umbilical fold and we will
talk about the importance of that relationship a bit more in the video regarding inguinal hernias
the superficial inguinal ring is the exit or medial aperture of the inguinal
canal and it is formed by the external oblique aponeurosis so it's in this general region here
structures that traverse the inguinal canal such as the round ligament of the uterus or the
spermatic cord will exit the superficial inguinal ring and route to its more distal destinations
the walls that make the inguinal canal are formed by aponeurosis of the anterior lateral abdominal
muscles as well as the transversal fascia i'm not going to make you memorize what makes up each wall
but one important wall that is often discussed and often comes up is the floor
which is formed by the inguinal ligament so you will hear of the inguinal ligament
and this is going to be formed by the external oblique aponeurosis
now while it forms the floor of the inguinal canal it actually extends past the canal so it's
extending all the way from your anterior superior iliac spine or your ASIS to the pubic tubercle
medially so it'll expand extend past the expanse of the inguinal canal
another important area associated with the inguinal region which does overlap
with the wall of the inguinal canal is the inguinal triangle or the triangle
of Hesselbach this triangle is going to be formed by the inferior epigastric vessels
superior laterally the rectus abdominis muscle medially and the inguinal ligament
inferiorly and why we talk about this area is that in the inferior medial portion of the triangle so
kind of in this schematic right here if you're looking down here this would be inferior medial
right so this is an area of weak fascia to an area of weakness where direct inguinal
hernias will often herniate into the inguinal canal region so a clinically important region
so what is the function of having a passageway in a relatively superficial region of the inferior
abdominal wall well there's two major functions one is going to be that it is um a passageway
and playing a role in the descent of the testes from the abdominal region to the scrotum during
development additionally it is a pathway for many structures in the adult so including the
round ligament of the uterus which is a remnant of the gubernaculum more to come on that in
upcoming sessions or the spermatic cord so those are two potential contents of the inguinal canal
additionally the ilioinguinal nerve which is a branch of the lumbar plexus will traverse
the inguinal canal or and as well as other smaller vascular and lymphatic structures
excellent so that is the inguinal canal and the closely related inguinal triangle in a nutshell
this is your summary slide thank you for your time and attention and have a great rest of your day