The Chinese University’s Faculty of Medicine on Wednesday said it had identified a new surgery technique that was better at preventing bladder cancer from recurring in patients compared with traditional procedures.

Three hundred and fifty bladder cancer patients participated in the clinical trial.

Half of them underwent a new surgery technique called en bloc resection of bladder tumour (ERBT) and the other half underwent traditional procedures.

Dr Jeremy Teoh, who led the research, noted that the one-year cancer recurrence rate for patients who had received traditional surgery was between 30 and 40 percent.

In contrast, Teoh said the recurrence rate in those who had received ERBT dropped to about 28 percent.

“Essentially during the [new] surgery, we try to preserve the whole tumour, try not to touch it, avoid fragmentation of the tumour, and also the whole specimen can be retrieved in one piece to ensure a complete resection by histology,” he explained.

The technique is currently available at 13 hospitals in Hong Kong, including Prince of Wales Hospital, Queen Mary Hospital, and Princess Margaret Hospital.

Teoh said all bladder cancer patients with a tumour size of less than three centimetres could consult with their doctors about having the new surgery.