Radiation therapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses beams of intense energy to kill cancer cells. Radiation therapy most often uses X-rays, but protons or other types of energy also can be used. Radiation therapy is an essential component in Gynecology in the primary nonsurgical management and the adjuvant postoperative treatment of selected malignancies arising in the female reproductive tract. Gynecologic cancers were among the first malignancies treated with ionizing radiation more than a century ago. Palliative radiotherapy can frequently improve a patient's quality of life when used for the relief of symptoms.