Amifostine in Treating Patients With Ovarian Epithelial Cancer Who Are Receiving Chemotherapy

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine if patients with ovarian epithelial cancer receiving chemotherapy have significantly fewer neurologic events when treated with amifostine. II. Compare amifostine vs no chemoprotection in terms of overall incidence of neuropathy, incidence of neutropenia, infection, and other myelosuppressive events (e.g., leukopenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia), length of hospital stay due to infections, and quality of life in this patient population. OUTLINE: This is a randomized, parallel, controlled, double blind study. Patients are randomized to one of two treatment arms. Arm I: Patients receive amifostine IV over 10 minutes, 30 minutes prior to chemotherapy. Arm II: Patients receive a placebo IV over 10 minutes, 30 minutes prior to chemotherapy. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for 8 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Quality of life is assessed prior to courses 1, 4, and 8, and then every 3 months for 1 year. Patients are followed monthly for 6 months. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 60 patients will be accrued for this study within 2 years.