Combination Chemotherapy and Peripheral Stem Cell Transplantation in Treating Patients With Stage III Ovarian Cancer

Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy and peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating patients who have undergone surgery for stage III ovarian cancer. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining chemotherapy with peripheral stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the safety and feasibility of multiple courses of high dose carboplatin, paclitaxel, and topotecan as initial chemotherapy combined with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in patients with optimally debulked stage III ovarian or primary peritoneal carcinoma. II. Determine the pathological complete response rate, disease free survival, and overall survival in patients treated with this regimen. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Mobilization and harvest: Within 8 weeks of surgical debulking, patients receive cyclophosphamide IV over 1 hour, followed 4 hours later by paclitaxel IV over 24 hours. Patients receive filgrastim (G-CSF) subcutaneously (SQ) daily beginning 24 hours after completion of paclitaxel infusion and continuing until blood counts recover and autologous peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) are harvested and selected for CD34+ cells. High dose chemotherapy and transplantation (3 weeks after PBSC harvest): Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 24 hours beginning on day 1, immediately followed by carboplatin IV over 2 hours, immediately followed by topotecan IV over 24 hours. Patients receive G-CSF sub-cutaneously (SQ) daily beginning 24 hours after completion of topotecan infusion and continuing until blood counts have recovered for 2 days. One quarter of the PBSC are reinfused beginning 2 days after completion of topotecan infusion. Treatment repeats every 4 weeks for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients with radiographic and biochemical complete response undergo laparoscopy as second look surgery within 8 weeks of the last course of chemotherapy. If no evidence of disease is found during laparoscopy, then exploratory laparotomy must also be performed. Patients are followed every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter or at time of recurrence until death.