Inclusion Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Histologically confirmed diagnosis of 1 of the following:

- Ovarian epithelial cancer

- Fallopian tube cancer

- Primary peritoneal cavity cancer

- Recurrent advanced disease

- Eligible for second-line to fifth-line chemotherapy

- Received platinum and taxane combination chemotherapy as first-line treatment
with disease recurrence > 6 months after conclusion of therapy

- No demonstrated refractoriness or resistance to weekly docetaxel

- Meets 1 of the following criteria:

- Doubling of blood levels of CA125 in the past 6 months and CA125 levels ≥ 2
times upper limit of normal (ULN)

- Measurable disease defined as ≥ 1 lesion ≥ 20 mm by conventional techniques or ≥
10 mm by spiral CT scan

- No active CNS metastases

- Prior CNS metastases allowed provided they were treated with radiation therapy
and disease has been stable for 4 weeks

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

- Karnofsky performance score ≥ 60%

- Not pregnant or nursing

- Negative pregnancy test

- Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 3 months after
completion of study treatment

- Life expectancy ≥ 3 months

- Creatinine ≤ 1.5 mg/dL

- Transaminases ≤ 3 times upper limit of normal (ULN)

- Bilirubin normal

- Platelet count > 100,000/mm^3

- WBC > 3,000/mm^3

- Neutrophil count > 1,500/mm^3

- Hemoglobin ≥ 8.0 g/dL

- Peripheral neuropathy ≤ grade 1

- Relative proportions of AST, ALT, and alkaline phosphatase according 1 to the
following criteria:

- Alkaline phosphatase (AP) normal AND AST/ALT ≤ 5 times ULN

- AP ≤ 2.5 times ULN AND AST/ALT ≤ 1.5 times ULN

- AP ≤ 5 times ULN AND AST/ALT normal

- No active infection

- No concurrent severe and/or uncontrolled medical disease (e.g., uncontrolled
diabetes, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, or congestive heart failure)

- No history of chronic active hepatitis or cirrhosis

- No history of severe hypersensitivity to docetaxel or other drugs formulated with
polysorbate 80

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

- See Disease Characteristics

- No investigational agents within 4 weeks prior to study entry

- Recovered from prior antineoplastic therapy

- No other concurrent investigational drugs

- No other concurrent chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, or hormonal antitumor
therapy

- Concurrent localized radiation therapy allowed for control of local disease
complications (e.g., bone metastases) that do not represent a general
progression of the disease status

- No concurrent grapefruit or grapefruit juice

- No concurrent amifostine