A Homemade Model that Helps Students Visualize Inguinal Canal Embryology, Anatomy, and Pathology

A simple, homemade anatomical model can be used as an active learning tool to engage students, encourage peer discussion, and enhance three‐dimensional visualization of inguinal canal anatomy, embryology, and pathology in a first year medical anatomy course. This model can be used by instructors when leading a classroom discussion and/or by groups of students engaged in peer teaching with some guiding instructions. The model is composed of 5 large pieces of construction paper of different colors (green, yellow, pink, light red, and dark red) each representing a layer of the anterior abdominal wall (parietal peritoneum, transversalis fascia, transversus abdominis muscle, internal oblique muscle, and external oblique muscle respectively). An inguinal canal is made by cutting holes through each paper layer, superior to the inguinal ligament (a line drawn on the red papers). Attached to each paper and emerging from the holes, are small “socks” of the same color as the paper they are emerging from. These “socks” represent the layers of the abdominal wall that form the fascial and muscular layers of the spermatic cord. The descent of the testes and formation of the spermatic cord, can then be demonstrated by putting a spherical object into the yellow sock and pushing it through the three red socks as it passes through the inguinal canal. The green sock, representing the parietal peritoneum, will be inside the yellow sock but the testes will not be inside the green sock – similar to the processus vaginalis. After the testes has emerged out of the superficial ring, it will be covered by multiple “sock” layers, each representing a layer of the spermatic cord. This poster outlines how to make and use this model to discuss the descent of the testes, the formation of the spermatic cord layers, and the pathology of inguinal hernias.