DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically proven ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal carcinoma Suboptimally debulked stage III (greater than 1.0 cm residual disease) Stage IV Histological subtypes allowed include: Serous adenocarcinoma Mucinous adenocarcinoma Clear cell carcinoma Transitional cell carcinoma Endometrioid adenocarcinoma Undifferentiated adenocarcinoma Mixed epithelial adenocarcinoma Adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified No borderline ovarian carcinoma of low malignant potential histology Stage III disease patients must have had appropriate surgery for ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal carcinoma and retained suboptimally debulked disease (greater than 1.0 cm residual disease) No CNS involvement