Modern radiotherapy and cervical cancer.

For most cervical cancers, radiotherapy is the mainstay of treatment. The introduction of concurrent chemotherapy to radiation at the end of the 20th century led to a significant improvement in disease survival. Now, techniques such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy, which allow a high degree of conformity to the tumor, offer the opportunity to further improve outcome by reducing treatment-related toxicity and also to potentially improve local control by an increase in tumor dose. This review will outline the history and current state of play of cervical radiotherapy.