Chennai: Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences today signed an MOU with University of Basel, Switzerland on Cleft and craniofacial surgery, research and didactic purpose.

This collaborative research project focuses on an optimal treatment strategy with minimal burden for the patient and healthcare system.

The digital 3D shape of the cleft will be reconstructed with photogrammetry and data-driven algorithms, guiding the computation of individualized palatal orthopaedic plates that can then be fabricated with 3D printing.

A neural network will be added to compute the 3D geometry from sparse or single-view inputs. The project aims to develop a Smartphone image-based method for a three-dimensional (3D) shape computation of the cleft.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Saveetha Rajesh, Medical Director,SMCH “Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences have always worked towards creating a vibrant culture of scientific spirit. I am sure this collaborative program will help us strengthen our resolve in helping patients, by providing affordable, state of the art technology-assisted health-care to all communities alike. Also 3D printed palatal plates help to reduce the cleft size. This novel treatment regimen will be ready for clinical use and scalability directly after successful development of the innovation of a touchless cleft shape computation.”

“Every Cleft child deserves a better smile. I am sure our project will reduce the burden of care and enhance the quality of life and deliver better smiles to children across the World. It will open the third eye of the surgeon in the form of an intelligent digital solution.”, added Dr Andreas A Mueller BRCCH (Botnar Research Centre for Child Health)

“Different parts of the world and different institutions have different kinds of know-how, and to us it is very important to ensure that knowledge and ideas have legs, so that they can meet each other and reach new parts of the world to achieve great things, as is the case here when it comes to palate care and healing and reducing the burden of cleft lip” saidMr Jonas Brunschwig, Consulate General of Switzerland, Swissnex in India

Cleft lip and palate, is one of the most frequent craniofacial malformations in newborns (1:700 births) with no existing effective preventive measures.  Clefts are usually closed during the first year of life through one or several operations. This enables normal food ingestion, good language development and corrects the external appearance. The Botnar Research Centre for Child Health BRCCH in Basel is now funding a project that simplifies this treatment. This will particularly benefit children in the developing countries.