Rosiglitazone Plaque Study

Exclusion Criteria

• •Patients who have taken \>2 concomitant oral anti-hypertensive agents (i.e. oral combination) within the 3 months prior to the screening visit (visit 1)
• •Previous exposure to a thiazolidinedione (TZD) or other PPAR-gamma agonist (e.g. rosiglitazone, troglitazone, pioglitazone, GI262570) or participation in a double-blind clinical study involving a TZD or PPAR-gamma agonist where the randomisation code has not been broken prior to visit 1 (screening) of this study.
• •Patients who have required the chronic use of insulin for glycaemic control at any time in the past (with the exception of those who have needed short-term insulin use to maintain glycaemic control during a hospitalisation, during pregnancy or during a medical procedure or intervention) or patients with a history of ketoacidosis.
• •Use of any investigational drug within 30 days of 5 half-lives preceding the first dose of medication at the start of the study.
• •Systolic blood pressure \>170 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure \> 100mHg.
• •Patients with unstable or severe angina or congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association \[NYHA\] class I-IV)
• •History of gangrene or transient ischaemic attack (TIA)
• •History of stroke within the previous year.
• •Presence of clinically significant hepatic disease (i.e. patients with ALT, total bilirubin, or alkaline phosphatase \> 2.5 times the upper limit of the normal laboratory range)
• •Any pre-existing condition or clinically significant abnormality identified in the screening (visit 1) physical examination, electrocardiogram, ultrasound examination or laboratory tests which, in the judgement of the investigator, would preclude safe completion of the study.
• •Clinically significant anaemia defined by haemoglobin concentration \<11g/dL for males, or \<10 g/dL for females
• •Patients with creatinine \> 150 umol/L.
• •Women who are lactating, pregnant, or planning to become pregnant during the course of the study.
• •Alcohol or drug abuse within the last 6 months.
• •Previous surgery to carotid arteries.
• •Pacemakers, cerebral aneurysm clips, claustrophobia or any implantable devices incompatible with magnetic resonance imaging.
• •Patients exhibiting total occlusion of the internal carotid artery (when assessed by colour duplex examination performed).
• •Patients unable to lie supine for 60 minutes.