RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug with peripheral stem cell transplantation may allow the doctor to give higher doses of chemotherapy drugs and kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy plus peripheral stem cell transplantation in treating patients with stage III or stage IV ovarian epithelial cancer.

OBJECTIVES: I. Evaluate the complete response rates, event free survival, and overall survival of patients with recently diagnosed stage III or IV ovarian epithelial cancer receiving carmustine plus melphalan followed by consolidation therapy after having undergone surgical debulking. II. Evaluate the therapy related mortality associated with the autotransplant and the consolidation therapy in these patients. III. Evaluate the quality of life in this patient population.

OUTLINE: Patients are stratified by stage (III vs IV) and volume of residual disease (less than 3 cm vs at least 3 cm). Approximately 10-15 days after surgery, patients receive filgrastim (G-CSF) subcutaneously daily until all peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) collections have been completed. Patients then receive carmustine IV over 2 hours on day -2 and melphalan IV over 20 minutes on day -1. Peripheral blood stem cells are infused 24 hours after melphalan on day 0. Patients receive G-CSF subcutaneously beginning on day 6 and continuing until granulocytes have recovered. Three months after the PBSC infusion, patients receive consolidation therapy with paclitaxel IV over 6 hours on day 2 and cisplatin IV over 24 hours on day 3. Consolidation treatment is repeated every 3 months for a total of 4 courses. Quality of life questionnaires are completed prior to PBSC transplant, before discharge after transplant, before each consolidation treatment, and 3 months after the last consolidation course. Patients are followed at least every 3 months for the first 2 years, and then every 6 months thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: An estimated 32 patients will be accrued into this study over 3-4 years.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed stage III or IV ovarian epithelial cancer who have undergone surgical debulking Stage III patients must have greater than 1 cm residual mass after surgery Must have had no more than 1 course of platinum based chemotherapy No CNS disease

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 to 70 Performance status: SWOG 0-2 Life expectancy: Not specified Hematopoietic: Not specified Hepatic: Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 mg/dL Transaminases no greater than 4 times upper limit of normal No active chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis Renal: Creatinine no greater than 3.0 mg/dL Cardiovascular: LVEF at least 50% Pulmonary: FVC, FEV1, and corrected DLCO at least 50% of predicted If unable to complete pulmonary function tests due to pain related to the recent surgery, patient must have a high resolution CT scan of the chest and acceptable arterial blood gases (PO2 at least 70) Other: HIV negative No active infection requiring intravenous antibiotics Not pregnant or nursing Effective contraception required of all fertile patients

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: Not specified Chemotherapy: See Disease Characteristics Endocrine therapy: Not specified Radiotherapy: Not specified Surgery: See Disease Characteristics