Combination Chemotherapy in Treating Young Patients With Recurrent or Resistant Malignant Germ Cell Tumors

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the response rate in pediatric patients with recurrent or resistant malignant germ cell tumors (GCT) treated with paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and carboplatin. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the toxicity of this regimen in these patients. II. To Collect tissue for the tumor bank that will aid in the identification of the biological characteristics of recurrent GCT. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 3 hours and carboplatin IV over 1 hour on day 1 and ifosfamide IV over 1 hour on days 1-5. Beginning on day 6, patients receive filgrastim (G-CSF) subcutaneously or IV once daily until blood count returns to normal. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 2 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically for up to 5 years.