Stepanovic, Aleksandar (57201691091)Aleksandar (57201691091)StepanovicArsenijevic, Tatjana (6508074168)Tatjana (6508074168)ArsenijevicStankovic, Vesna (56186752300)Vesna (56186752300)StankovicVujanac, Vukac (36132436600)Vukac (36132436600)VujanacLazovic, Anja (59928547000)Anja (59928547000)LazovicRaonic-Stevanovic, Tanja (36610637100)Tanja (36610637100)Raonic-StevanovicNikitovic, Marina (6602665617)Marina (6602665617)Nikitovic2025-07-022025-07-022021https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.15104https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85118297756&doi=10.3855%2fjidc.15104&partnerID=40&md5=0f1e28f187b9eb38f5d98f28c02e4984https://remedy.med.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/12273Introduction: The outbreak of COVID-19 has had an impact on global healthcare as well as on radiotherapy practice in many countries. This study aimed to identify clinical characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infected cancer inpatients, as well as what impact this infection had on radiation treatment of the patients. Methodology: In this retrospective study, we included cancer inpatients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19 infection during the radiotherapy or chemoradiation in April 2020 in National Cancer Research Center in Serbia. Data were obtained from the medical records between 1 April and 1 July 2020. Results: A total of 49 COVID-19 infected cancer inpatients were included. The most frequently reported cancers were head and neck cancers, in twenty-three patients (46.8%). Lymphopenia was present in 77.5% of the patients. Red blood cells, haemoglobin and platelets were significantly lower during incubation or diagnosis of COVID-19. Twenty-seven (55.1%) patients did not finish radiotherapy. The age of patients who finished radiotherapy after COVID-19 infection was significantly lower compared to the patients who did not finish radiotherapy (60.5 ± 7.8 vs. 68.6 ± 11.2; p < 0.005). Conclusions: COVID-19 infected cancer patients in radiotherapy practice show similar symptoms and demographic characteristics as the general population infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus. Patients with head and neck cancers may be susceptible to infection with COVID-19. Old age and male gender may be risk factors for discontinuation of radiotherapy in COVID-19 infected cancer patients. © 2021 Stepanovic et al.CancerCOVID-19InfectionRadiotherapy