Men who had minimally invasive surgery for prostate cancer may have a higher rate of survival, according to findings published in the journal Cancer.

In an effort to better understand how to reduce the mortality rate in prostate cancer patients, researchers compared a localized surgical procedure to the use of external-beam radiation and hormonal treatments.

The results showed that those who opted for hormonal therapy were at least three times more likely to die from prostate cancer, while radiation patients had a mortality rate of more than two times higher of surgical patients. The team also found that those who opted for the surgery were less likely to suffer further spread of tumors or have the disease reoccur.

Peter R. Carroll, lead author of the study, stated that “this a clear signal to the physician community that prostatectomy should be considered for men with higher-risk prostate cancer.” He added that “in many cases, surgery would be part of a multimodal treatment approach, including adjuvant radiation or systemic treatments based on the pathology and early PSA response.”

In 2006, of the 203,415 men who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, more than 28,000 patients died from the disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.