RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die.

PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of liposomal doxorubicin in treating patients with liver or bile duct cancer.

OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the response rate and toxicity of doxorubicin HCl liposome in patients with carcinomas of the liver and bile ducts.

OUTLINE: Patients receive doxorubicin HCl liposome IV over 15 minutes every 21 days. Filgrastim (G-CSF) is administered subcutaneously starting on day 2 and continuing for 10-14 days. Disease is restaged after every 3 courses. Treatment continues in the absence of unacceptable toxicity or disease progression. Patients are followed every 3 months for the first year, and then every 6 months thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: There will be 17-26 evaluable patients accrued into this study.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed carcinoma of the liver or bile ducts including hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, and gallbladder cancer Measurable or evaluable disease by CT scan (ascites, pleural effusions, and bone metastases are not considered evaluable)

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance status: ECOG 0-2 Life expectancy: Not specified Hematopoietic: WBC at least 3,000/mm3 Platelet count at least 100,000/mm3 Hepatic: Bilirubin less than 3 mg/dL No severe cirrhosis Renal: Creatinine no greater than 3.0 mg/dL Cardiovascular: Left ventricular cardiac ejection fraction at least 45% Other: No allergy to egg or egg products Not pregnant or nursing Effective contraception required of all fertile patients

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: Not specified Chemotherapy: No prior doxorubicin At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: Not specified Radiotherapy: Prior radiotherapy allowed Surgery: Not specified