Marieke van Son

17 GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND THESIS OUTLINE AIMS OF THE THESIS In summary, the role of focal therapy will be explored in two settings: the primary treatment setting and the salvage treatment setting. Besides a general outline, the use of high-dose-rate brachytherapy as a focal treatment modality will be explored specif- ically. This thesis aims to answer the following general and more specific questions: I. Primary treatment setting - How does focal therapy compare to conventional EBRT and RP? Specifically: - What are the results of MRI-guided ultrafocal high-dose-rate brachytherapy? II. Salvage treatment setting - What is the current status of focal salvage treatments? Specifically: - What are the results of MRI-guided ultrafocal salvage high-dose-rate brachytherapy? - What is the effect on patient-reported quality of life? - How does this compare to physician-reported toxicity? - What are the potential predictors of treatment failure? - Upon recurrence, can we repeat focal salvage treatment? 1