DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed ovarian epithelial, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer OR
• Histologically confirmed ovarian low malignant potential tumor with invasive recurrence
• Relapsed after and/or refractory to platinum- and taxane-based chemotherapy
• Patients in first relapse after a disease-free interval of more than 1 year are eligible
• Measurable disease outside prior radiation field
• Availability of a sentinel lesion that is adequate for core biopsy through percutaneous biopsy or simple laparoscopic means
• Patients with clinical evidence of CNS involvement (abnormal clinical examination) must have a negative CT scan with contrast or MRI of the brain
• No large volume ascites or pleural effusion

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

• Not specified

Performance status:

• ECOG 0-2

Life expectancy:

• Not specified

Hematopoietic:

• WBC at least 3,000/mm^3
• Absolute neutrophil count greater than 1,500/mm^3
• Hemoglobin at least 9.0 g/dL (independent of epoetin alfa or transfusion)
• Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

• Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 mg/dL
• Transaminases no greater than 2.5 times upper limit of normal

Renal:

• Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL

Cardiovascular:

• No myocardial infarction or unstable dysrhythmia within the past 6 months
• No congestive heart failure (CHF), including CHF that may be compensated with furosemide

Other:

• No other invasive malignancy within the past 5 years except noninvasive nonmelanoma skin cancer
• No active infection
• Not pregnant or nursing
• Negative pregnancy test
• Fertile patients must use effective barrier contraception during and for 3 months after study completion
• Concurrent residual, stable, grade 2 or lower peripheral neuropathy allowed at the discretion of the principal investigator (PI)

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior signal transduction therapy

Chemotherapy:

• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for mitomycin or carboplatin)

Endocrine therapy:

• At least 4 weeks since prior hormonal therapy

Radiotherapy:

• See Disease Characteristics
• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy

Surgery:

• See Disease Characteristics

Other:

• Recovered from prior anticancer therapy
• At least 1 week since prior antibiotics
• No more than 4 prior anticancer regimens
• No concurrent ketoconazole, itraconazole, erythromycin, or clarithromycin

• No concurrent therapeutic warfarin

  • Patients who can be safely converted over to low molecular weight heparin are eligible
• No concurrent grapefruit or grapefruit juice
• No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients
• No concurrent alternative or complementary therapies or over-the-counter agents unless approved by the PI
• Concurrent medications that may alter the metabolism of imatinib mesylate and lead to potential toxicity are allowed at the discretion of the PI