Bevacizumab, Cytarabine, and Mitoxantrone on Treating Patients With Hematologic Cancers

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed poor-risk hematologic malignancy Relapsed or refractory acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) Primary induction failure Myelodysplasia(MDS)-related AML Secondary AML Relapsed or refractory MDS Primary induction failure Refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) RAEB in transformation Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia Chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis Failure of prior primary induction therapy or relapse after achieving complete remission allowed only if no more than 3 courses of prior induction/reinduction therapy were received No hyperleukocytosis (50,000 or more leukemic blasts/mm3) No active CNS leukemia PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance status: ECOG 0-2 Life expectancy: Not specified Hematopoietic: See Disease Characteristics No disseminated intravascular coagulation Hepatic: AST/ALT no greater than 2 times normal Alkaline phosphatase no greater than 2 times normal Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 times normal Renal: Creatinine no greater than 1.5 times normal Cardiovascular: LVEF at least 45% by MUGA or echocardiogram No myocardial infarction within the past 3 months No history of severe coronary artery disease No cardiomyopathy No New York Heart Association class III or IV heart disease (congestive heart failure) Other: Not pregnant or nursing Negative pregnancy test Fertile patients must use effective contraception No active uncontrolled infection No history of cytarabine-related neurotoxicity No evidence of graft-versus-host disease PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: At least 1 week since prior hematopoietic growth factors including epoetin alfa, filgrastim (G-CSF), and sargramostim (GM-CSF) At least 1 week since prior interleukin-3 or interleukin-11 At least 4 weeks since prior autologous stem cell transplantation At least 90 days since prior allogeneic stem cell transplantation No other concurrent immunotherapy Chemotherapy: See Disease Characteristics At least 3 weeks since prior chemotherapy and recovered No prior cytarabine administered as a 72-hour continuous infusion followed by mitoxantrone IV over 30 minutes No other concurrent chemotherapy Endocrine therapy: Not specified Radiotherapy: No concurrent radiotherapy Surgery: Not specified Other: At least 2 weeks since prior immunosuppressive therapy No other concurrent investigational or commercially available antitumor therapy