Inclusion Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Diagnosis of ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cavity cancer

- Recurrent or persistent platinum-refractory disease, as defined by 1 of the
following:

- Progressive disease while on a platinum compound

- Persistent clinically measurable disease with best response as stable disease at
the completion of ≥ 6 courses of therapy

- Recurrent disease within 6 months after completion of therapy

- Measurable or evaluable disease

- Evaluable disease, defined as CA 125 ≥ 100 U/mL (confirmed by 2 blood tests)

- Measurable disease, defined as ≥ 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion ≥ 20 mm by
conventional techniques, including palpation, plain x-ray, CT scan, or MRI, OR ≥
10 mm by spiral CT scan

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

- 18 and over

Performance status

- GOG 0-3

Life expectancy

- Not specified

Hematopoietic

- Absolute neutrophil count ≥ 1,500/mm^3

- Platelet count ≥ 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic

- Bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)

- SGOT ≤ 2.5 times ULN

- Alkaline phosphatase ≤ 2.5 times ULN

Renal

- Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN

- Creatinine clearance > 50 mL/min

Other

- No clinically significant infection

- No other severe medical condition that would preclude study treatment

- No other malignancy within the past 5 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer or
carcinoma in situ of the cervix or breast

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

- Not specified

Chemotherapy

- See Disease Characteristics

- Prior gemcitabine or topotecan allowed provided disease is not refractory to either
drug

- At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy and recovered

Endocrine therapy

- Not specified

Radiotherapy

- At least 3 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered

Surgery

- Recovered from recent prior surgery