Pill Used in Brain Tumors

SAN DIEGO, April 1 (AP) The French abortion pill appears to produce modest but encouraging improvement in some victims of inoperable brain tumors, a study has found.

Researchers believe it may help combat diseases that result from misguided responses to progesterone, a female sex hormone, including meningioma, a slow-growing benign tumor of the lining of the brain and spinal cord that strikes about 2,500 Americans a year. It can lead to blindness, paralysis, seizures and other symptoms if the tumor cannot be removed surgically.

In a pilot study on 28 men and women with inoperable tumors, begun in 1987, Dr. Steven Grunberg and others from the University of Southern California found that after an average 'of two years, eight patients appeared to have benefited. In six the tumors shrank from 5 to 10 percent.

In addition, two patients experienced marked improvement in their vision, and five noticed a variety of other changes, including fewer headaches,better control of eye movement and less double vision.

Thirteen patients, including some whose conditions are unchanged, continue to take the medicine. One has been on it for five years'

At a meeting of the American Cancer Society on Wednesday, Dr. Grunberg described the results so far as "encouraging but not definitive."

His team began a much larger study last October, which will enroll 200 patients with - growing meningiomas. They will be randomly assigned to take RU-486 or Placebos.

Researchers theorize the  medicine stops the growth of meningiomas by blocking progesterone receptors on the tumors. They believe it might also help treat other diseases where progesterone plays a role, Including breast cancer and endometriosis.