Carboplatin Plus Paclitaxel With or Without Continued Low-Dose Paclitaxel in Treating Patients With Early-Stage Ovarian Cancer

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

Histologically confirmed ovarian epithelial cancer of one of the following histologic cell types:

Serous adenocarcinoma
Malignant Brenner's tumor
Mucinous adenocarcinoma
Endometrioid
Adenocarcinoma
Clear cell adenocarcinoma
Undifferentiated carcinoma
Transitional cell
Mixed epithelial carcinoma
Adenocarcinoma - not otherwise specified

Meets 1 of the following criteria:

Stage Ia or Ib, grade 3 or clear cell
Stage Ic or II, all grades/histologies
Complete surgical staging
No tumors of low malignant potential (borderline tumors)

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

Not specified

Performance status:

GOG 0-3

Life expectancy:

Not specified

Hematopoietic:

WBC at least 3,000/mm^3
Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times normal
Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 3 times normal
SGOT no greater than 3 times normal

Renal:

Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL

Other:

No other invasive malignancies within the past 5 years except nonmelanoma skin cancer
No major systemic medical illness expected to affect survival
Body surface area no greater than 2.0

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

Not specified

Chemotherapy:

Not specified

Endocrine therapy:

Not specified

Radiotherapy:

Not specified

Surgery:

See Disease Characteristics

Other:

No prior treatment for this malignancy except surgical staging
No prior anticancer therapy that would preclude study participation