Interpreting
The MCG Report
​The results of the MCG analysis are summarized in a MCG report which is designed to aid physicians in quickly assessing a patient, developing treatment plans, and monitoring the effectiveness of interventions.
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In reviewing the interpretation guidance below you may find it helpful to follow along on a sample MCG report, either for a healthy patient or a patient with various pathologies. ​
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MCG Categorization may be performed on sessions with at least three (3) ECG samples, and provides a general overview of cardiac dysfunction based on other information presented in the report. It is designed to assist with rapid clinical decisionmaking by medical professionals.
MCG Categorization assesses cardiac dysfunction due to obstructive causes (e.g. CAD), nonobstructive causes (e.g. vasospasm), or metabolic causes (e.g. hypo/hyperthyroid, hyperinsulinemia, pre-diabetes, or diabetes) as well as possible underlying pathological and physiological conditions.
Interpreting MCG Categories
MCG Categories
Category N - True Normal
MCG analysis has produced no significant findings for this patient.
Category A - Clinical Normal
MCG analysis points to potential signs of early or subclinical cardiovascular system dysfunction and/or incipient cardiac conditions.
Category B - Low Dysfunction
MCG Analysis points to minor cardiovascular system dysfunction.
Category C - Recovered Dysfunction
MCG Analysis points to cardiovascular system dysfunction, with indications that this dysfunction may be residual or due to recovery from a prior condition (for example after interventional procedures, or due to collateral circulation around an obstructed vessel).
Category D - Moderate Dysfunction
MCG Analysis points to moderate cardiovascular system dysfunction.
Category E - High Dysfunction
MCG Analysis points to serious cardiovascular system dysfunction.
Category F - Severe Dysfunction
MCG analysis points to severe cardiovascular system dysfunction. Patients in this category are at high risk of developing heart failure.
Category G - Extreme Dysfunction
MCG analysis points to extreme cardiovascular system dysfunction. Patients in this category are at high risk of sudden cardiac death.
Interpreting MCG Severity
MCG Severity Scores represent an accumulation of functional anomalies detected by the MCG analysis software. Higher severity scores are correlated with increased ischemic burden from both obstructive and functional causes, as well as other conditions leading to cardiac supply/demand imbalances.
Interpreting MCG Ischemia Results
MCG analysis distinguishes between two categories of ischemia - Local and Global - either may be described as absent (MCG analysis found no evidence in the ECG data), present (MCG analysis found strong indications in the ECG data), or borderline.
It is important to note that MCG's detection of ischemia is based on functional (electrophysiological) measurements, and may include ischemia from obstructive causes (e.g. due to coronary artery disease), functional obstruction (e.g. vasospasm), or metabolic conditions (e.g. hypo/hyperthyroid, hyperinsulinemia, pre-diabetes, or diabetes).
Local Ischemia
Regional or patchy myocardial ischemia of the kind often caused by mid-or distal single or double vessel coronary artery disease.
Global Ischemia
Diffuse ischemia affecting the entire myocardium, of the kind often caused by proximal large vessel coronary artery disease (usually two or more vessels are pathological) and/or microvascular disease.
MCG analysis seeks to detect anomalies in ECG data which are correlated with certain pathological or physiopathological conditions.
Definitive diagnosis for many of these conditions typically requires the use of other diagnostic modalities, therefore they are reported in a "Suggestions" section for physician consideration and evaluation.
Pathological and Physiopathological Condition Suggestions
ECG Tracings
ECG tracings presented on this report are intended for assessment of tracing quality only. While gross time-domain ECG anomalies
(arrhythmias) may be visible on these tracings the tracings are not scaled for time-domain analysis and should not be used for traditional ECG time domain judgments. A standard 12-lead ECG or 12-lead MCG with scaled lead reporting should be performed for this purpose.
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The report summary presents two evaluations of tracing quality: A subjective asessment (Good, Marginal, Poor) set by the technician in the MCG Clinical Client software or by the reviewing physician in the web based reporting application, and an algorithmic tracing quality (ATQ) score between 0 and 100 set by the MCG analysis software.
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ATQ scores above 70 are typically 'good' tracings suitable for MCG analysis
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ATQ scores from 40-70 are typically 'marginal' and may affect the accuracy of MCG results
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ATQ scores below 40 are typically 'poor' tracings unacceptable for MCG analysis
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Algorithmic categorization is not perfect and the ATQ score is included for reference only.
Human review of tracing quality is an essential part of MCG analysis, and MCG defers to the human (subjective) assessment if there is a conflict.
Physician Judgment
While MCG analysis is a powerful diagnostic tool it is not a replacement for evaluation by a physician. A patient's MCG report should always be considered and evaluated in the full context of a patient's history and symptoms.
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To assist clinical users in interpreting the MCG results Premier Heart maintains a medical support team which can be contacted via our support request form or through the Premier Heart web applications.
If using our support request form select "Clinical interpretation questions" as your inquiry type.