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