Practice Quiz - Abdominal Wall
    Below are written questions from previous quizzes and exams. Click here for a Practical Quiz - old format or Practical Quiz - new format.

  1. The terminal ends of the ilioinguinal nerves in the female are referred to as:
    Anterior cutaneous branches
    Anterior labial
    Cremasterics
    Iliohypogastrics
  2. The usual location for an appendectomy incision is the:
    left lower quadrant
    left upper quadrant
    right lower quadrant
    right upper quadrant
  3. The inferior border of the rectus sheath posteriorly is called the:
    Falx inguinalis
    Inguinal ligament
    Internal inguinal ring
    Arcuate line
    Linea alba
  4. A medical student was asked by her preceptor to palpate the margin of the superficial inguinal ring of a healthy male patient. After passing her finger down the edge of the medial crus of the superficial inguinal ring, she felt a bony protuberance deep to the lateral edge of the spermatic cord, which she correctly identified as the :
    pecten pubis
    pubic symphysis
    pubic tubercle
    iliopubic eminence
    iliopectineal line
  5. You were asked to assist in a surgical operation on a young patient to treat an ulcer in the first part of the duodenum. You would expect that the surgeon will approach the ulcer by doing an anterior abdominal wall incision in the following region:
    Epigastric
    Left inguinal
    Left lumbar
    Right hypochondrial
    Hypogastric
  6. Following an emergency appendectomy your patient complained of having paresthesia (numbness) of the skin at the pubic region. The most likely nerve that has been injured during the operation is:
    Genitofemoral
    Iliohypogastric
    Subcostal
    Spinal nerve T10
    Spinal nerve T9
  7. An obstetrician decides to do a Caesarean section on a 25-year-old pregnant woman. A transverse suprapubic incision is chosen for that purpose. All of the following abdominal wall layers will be encountered during the incision EXCEPT the:
    Anterior rectus sheath
    Posterior rectus sheath
    Rectus abdominis muscle
    Skin and subcutaneous tissue
    Transversalis fascia, extraperitoneal fat, and peritoneum
  8. In order to reduce a hernia (return it to the abdominal cavity), a surgeon finds it necessary to ligate an artery in the extraperitoneal connective tissue (preperitoneal fat) running vertically just medial to the bowel as the bowel passes through the abdominal wall. This artery is the:
    Deep circumflex iliac
    Inferior epigastric
    Superficial circumflex iliac
    Superficial epigastric
    Superficial external pudendal
  9. The posterior layer of the rectus sheath ends inferiorly at the
    Arcuate line
    Intercrestal line
    Linea alba
    Pectineal line
    Semilunar line
  10. Surgical approaches to the abdomen sometimes necessitate a midline incision between the two rectus sheaths, i.e., through the:
    Linea aspera
    Arcuate line
    Semilunar line
    Iliopectineal line
    Linea alba
  11. The internal thoracic artery is sometimes surgically cut near the caudal end of the sternum and used to supply blood to a region of the heart. In these cases, maintenance of adequate blood flow to the rectus abdominis may be dependent on increased flow through which artery?
    Superficial epigastric
    Inferior epigastric
    Umbilical
    Superficial circumflex iliac
    Deep circumflex iliac
  12. The normal pattern of venous and lymphatic drainage of the superficial tissues of the anterior abdominal wall is arranged around a horizontal plane. Above that plane, drainage is in a cranial direction; below the plane drainage is in a caudal direction. This reference plane corresponds to:
    Transpyloric plane
    Level of anterior superior iliac spines
    Transtubercular line
    Level of arcuate line
    Level of umbilicus