前列腺癌患者的检查和最终治疗的延误很常见，初次前列腺活检后额外检查的后勤、专家转诊和心理原因是延误的最常见原因。在 COVID-19 大流行和随后的激增期间，手术或放疗的明确护理提供时间已成为前列腺癌患者及其医疗服务提供者高度关注的话题。作为回应，发表了关于采用放射疗法和根治性前列腺切除术明确治疗前列腺癌的时机的建议，但没有详细说明这些建议的理由。虽然 COVID-19 大流行已经过去，但患者总是会问这样的问题：“我应该什么时候开始放疗或接受手术？”在缺乏专门解决这个问题的 I 级证据的情况下，我们将特此提出一个叙述性综述，总结前瞻性和回顾性研究中关于治疗延迟对局限性前列腺癌患者肿瘤学结果影响的可用数据。© 2024。作者（s）。

Delays in the work-up and definitive management of patients with prostate cancer are common, with logistics of additional work-up after initial prostate biopsy, specialist referrals, and psychological reasons being the most common causes of delays. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent surges, timing of definitive care delivery with surgery or radiotherapy has become a topic of significant concern for patients with prostate cancer and their providers alike. In response, recommendations for the timing of definitive management of prostate cancer with radiotherapy and radical prostatectomy were published but without a detailed rationale for these recommendations. While the COVID-19 pandemic is behind us, patients are always asking the question: "When should I start radiation or undergo surgery?" In the absence of level I evidence specifically addressing this question, we will hereby present a narrative review to summarize the available data on the effect of treatment delays on oncologic outcomes for patients with localized prostate cancer from prospective and retrospective studies.© 2024. The Author(s).