cleft lips and palate

ニュースの記事の中で気になる表現を見つけました。

Eli Thompson came into this world in the late afternoon of March 4, perfectly healthy, but with one distinction -- he didn't have a nose.

"The day I delivered, everything went fine," mom Brandi McGlathery told ABC News today. "At 4:42 when he was born, he came out and the doctor put him on my chest. When I took a closer look at him, I said, 'He doesn't have a nose,' and they took him out of the room."

中略

"I've seen facial abnormalities, cleft lip and palate, but this is the first time I've seen a case with just no nose," Brown told ABC News.
McGlathery became Brown's patient early in her pregnancy, he said, noting that the 23-year-old mom of three showed no signs of a high risks, and tests showed Eli to have a nasal bone.

気になった表現は、”cleft lips and palate”です。『英辞郎on the web』によると、医学用語で「口唇口蓋裂」という意味があります。ネットで調べたところ「口唇口蓋裂」は、先天性異常の一つであり、軟口蓋あるいは硬口蓋またはその両方が閉鎖しない状態の口蓋裂と、口唇の一部に裂け目が現れる状態の口唇裂の総称です。

”cleft”は、”cleave”の過去形・過去分詞形で、『ジーニアス英和辞典第４版』（大修館書店）によると、「〜を切り裂く、［比ゆ的に］〜を分裂させる」です。”lip”の意味は、「唇」です。”palate”には、「口蓋」という意味がありました。それぞれの意味が組み合わさることで、「口唇口蓋裂」になると考えられます。(Nao)

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/alabama-baby-born-nose-mom-perfect/story?id=30050043