Researchers from Cedars-Sinai Cancer found that nearly 90% of clinical trial participants with prostate cancer who used a combination of androgen deprivation therapy (hormone therapy injections) and pelvic lymph node radiation did not have prostate cancer recurrence for five years.

The Cedars-Sinai study, published in The Lancet, also found that patients who didn’t receive either of these two treatments experienced a five-year survival of 70%.

Prostate cancer affects one in every six to seven men, making it the third most common cancer in the United States after breast and lung cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“We can now confirm that pelvic lymph node treatment used together with androgen deprivation therapy, or even used as a stand-alone treatment option, greatly improves outcomes in patients with postoperative prostate cancer,” said senior study author Howard Sandler, MD, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Cedars-Sinai Cancer in a news release.

For the study, researchers enrolled 1,716 patients between March 2008 and March 2015 and separated individuals into three groups.

The first group received salvage prostate bed radiotherapy, standard radiation targeting the prostate area after the organ’s surgical removal. This group of patients had an average five-year survival of 71%.

The next group received radiation treatment combined with androgen deprivation therapy and had an average five-year survival of 81%.

Last, the third group received salvage prostate bed radiotherapy, androgen deprivation therapy and pelvic lymph node radiation. Patients in this group experienced a “five-year freedom from progression of just over 87%.”

“The combined treatment approach proved to be the most beneficial approach,” said Sandler.

To read other Cancer Health articles on this topic, click #Prostate Cancer. You’ll find headlines such as “Nubeqa Extends Survival for Some Metastatic Prostate Cancer,” “Accounting for Genetic Factors May Improve Accuracy of Prostate Cancer Detection” and “13 Famous Men Who Prove There’s Life After Prostate Cancer.”