Bassett Collection of Stereoscopic Images of Human Anatomy

Collection Home

Dissection of male inguinal region and spermatic cord

Internal oblique and cremaster muscles

Image #136-1

KEYWORDS: Muscles and tendons.

Creative Commons

Stanford holds the copyright to the David L. Bassett anatomical images and has assigned Creative Commons license Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International to all of the images.

For additional information regarding use and permissions, please contact Dr. Drew Bourn at dbourn@stanford.edu.

Dissection of male inguinal region and spermatic cord

Internal oblique and cremaster muscles

The aponeurosis of the external oblique (2) has been excised above and medial to the inguinal canal. Fascia has been cut away from the underlying internal oblique muscle. The origin of the cremaster muscle (16) from the lower border of the internal oblique is visible. The cremaster has been split to demonstrate the manner in which it encases the inner structures of the spermatic cord (17) in their passage along the inguinal canal.

1 .	Ilioinguinal nerve
2 .	Iliohypogastric nerve
3 .	Left rectus abdominis muscle (pointer indicates lateral margin of muscle visible through rectus sheath)
4 .	Transversalis fascia
5 .	Right rectus abdominis muscle (cut across)
6 .	Sheath of rectus abdominis muscle (upper pointer indicates aponeurosis of external oblique, split and reflected from sheath)
7 .	Reflected inguinal ligament (exposed by lateral displacement of spermatic cord)
8 .	Spermatic cord
9 .	Superficial fascia of the penis (dartos)
10 .	Cremasteric fascia (reflected)
11 .	Aponeurosis external oblique muscle
12 .	Fascia of internal oblique muscle
13 .	Location of anterior superior iliac spine
14 .	Internal oblique muscle
15 .	Inguinal ligament
16 .	Cremaster muscle (split open)
17 .	Internal spermatic fascia (enclosing ductus deferens and associated structures)