DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically or cytologically confirmed ovarian epithelial, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer

• Measurable or evaluable disease

  • Measurable disease is characterized as lesions reproducibly measurable in 1 dimension
  • Evaluable disease is defined as known disease with CA125 levels > 50 U/mL on 2 occasions ≥ 1 week apart

• Previously treated with a taxane and platinum-based regimen

  • Only 1 prior platinum-based regimen, including IV or intraperitoneal consolidation
  • One additional non-platinum and non-topotecan chemotherapy regimen allowed
  • Any number of prior biologic therapies allowed

• Meets 1 of the following criteria for response to prior platinum-based therapy:

  • Platinum-resistant disease, defined as a disease-free interval of < 6 months after prior platinum-based therapy OR progressive disease on a platinum-containing regimen
  • Platinum-sensitive disease, defined as a disease-free interval of > 6 months after prior platinum-based therapy
• No symptomatic, untreated brain metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

• Karnofsky performance status 70-100%
• Life expectancy ≥ 4 months
• WBC > 3,000/mm^3
• Absolute neutrophil count > 1,500/mm^3
• Platelet count > 100,000/mm^3
• Total bilirubin ≤ 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)
• AST ≤ 2.5 times ULN (5 times ULN if liver metastases are present)
• Creatinine ≤ 1.5 times ULN AND creatinine clearance > 40 mg/dL
• HIV negative
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for 6 months after completion of study treatment
• No presence of any other active cancer

• No uncontrolled intercurrent illness, including the following:

  • Infection
  • Symptomatic congestive heart failure
  • Unstable angina pectoris
  • Cardiac arrhythmia

• No history of severe allergy to platinum compounds

  • Mild reaction (skin only) allowed provided a negative skin test is obtained
• No history of allergic reaction to appropriate antiemetics (e.g., 5HT_3 antagonists)

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

• See Disease Characteristics
• Recovered from prior chemotherapy
• At least 2 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered
• At least 4 weeks since prior investigational drugs
• No prior radiotherapy to the whole pelvic field
• No unresolved sequelae resulting from any surgical procedures
• No concurrent colony-stimulating factors (e.g., filgrastim [G-CSF] or sargramostim [GM-CSF]) during topotecan infusion
• No concurrent participation in another investigational trial
• No other concurrent investigational agents
• No other concurrent anticancer therapy