Visual computing helps cleft lip surgery
Researchers from the Department of Computer Science are using visual computing to simplify and improve surgeries for cleft lip and palate. They presented their project to visitors at Treffpunkt Science City on 21 November 2021.
Orofacial clefts or cleft lip and palate are the most common craniofacial malformations in newborns: they occur in one out of evey 700 births. There are currently no effective preventative measures and surgery is used to repair the malformation. Barbara Solenthaler, Senior Scientist at the Computer Graphics Laboratory, and her team are collaborating with the University Hospital Basel on a project that uses visual computing technology to help time and plan the treatment more precisely.
The teams of both Barbara Solenthaler and Andreas Müller from the University Hospital Basel presented their work to the public at Treffpunkt Science City during the so-called "Erlebnissonntag", during which around 1400 people visited the Campus Hönggerberg to gain insights into numerous research projects from ETH Zurich. The researchers used replicas of cleft palate deformities and videos to explain their work and answered questions from interested visitors.
Andreas Müller from University Hospital Basel (l.) answers the questions of the visitors. (Photo: BRCCH) The interest of the visitors at "Erlebnissonntag" in the BRCCH project was high. (Photo: BRCCH)
The project is a cooperation of ETH Zurich and University Basel, and funded by the external pageBotnar Research Centre for Child Health (BRCCH). It aims to develop a smartphone-image-based method for a three-dimensional (3D) shape computation of the cleft. This helps surgeons to perform the procedure in a fully automated and risk-free way and to digitally produce the individualised orthopaedic palatal plate used to prepare for the surgical procedure. Finally, thanks to the shape computation of the cleft, the previously numerous surgical procedures can be reduced to one. This one-step operation is already routinely performed in high-income countries such as Switzerland. In the future, the innovation should help reduce the treatment burden and costs in low-income regions.
Treffpunkt Science City
Treffpunkt Science City is ETH Zurich's public education programme for all ages. All generations meet at the events and experience the exciting world of research. In lectures, experiments, lab tours and panel discussions, curious minds can discover how new knowledge emerges and influences the world we live in. The autumn programme of Treffpunkt Science City included numerous events on the topic "Rich and poor: how inequality arises and how we overcome it".