TC or BEP in Treating Patients With Malignant Ovarian Germ Cell Tumors

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: To assess the activity of paclitaxel and carboplatin with respect to progression free survival (using bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin \[BEP\] as a reference) for newly diagnosed malignant ovarian germ cell tumors. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: 1. To estimate the toxicity of paclitaxel and carboplatin, and bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin in this patient population. 2. To estimate overall survival for paclitaxel and carboplatin relative to that of BEP. 3. To evaluate response rate in the subset of patients with measurable disease. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. ARM 1: Patients receive paclitaxel IV over 3 hours and carboplatin IV over 1 hour on day 1. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 4-6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. ARM 2: Patients receive bleomycin IM daily for days 1-3, etoposide IV daily for days 1-5, cisplatin IV for days 1-5. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 3 or 4\* courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. NOTE: \*Patients who have good risk will have 3 courses and those who have poor risks will have 4 courses. Patients undergo blood sample collection at baseline and periodically during study for laboratory biomarker analysis. After completion of study therapy, patients are followed up every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 3 years, and then annually thereafter.