A 24-year-old man presents to the emergency department with nausea, vomiting, low-grade fever, and crampy abdominal pain that has gotten progressively worse over the past 12 hours. He is otherwise healthy except for a 6-month history of a previously nonpainful, reducible bulge in his right groin that worsened with lifting. The physician diagnoses a strangulated indirect hernia with resulting bowel obstruction and necrosis. Which of the following is the underlying cause of this type of hernia?
(A) Congenital defect in diaphragmatic membrane
(B) Enlarged external inguinal ring
© Enlarged femoral ring
(D) Patent processus vaginalis
(E) Weak abdominal wall musculature