History

Legacy Heart Center was formed more than 20 years ago, when Dr. Waenard Miller and Dr. David A. Schwartz combined their practices to create the Texas Regional Heart Center. In anticipation of a planned expansion to a new facility in Plano’s Legacy Park in April of 2005, the medical practice renamed itself Legacy Heart Center in 2003. Legacy Heart Center has grown from two doctors 20 years ago to today’s staff of 14 physicians and more than 100 other health and administrative professionals who provide care for about 30,000 patients annually.

With its move to a new, 43,000 square-foot facility on Preston Road, the Center added a LightSpeed computed tomography (CT) system to its array of leading-edge cardiac diagnostic, testing and treatment services, becoming the first private cardiology practice in North Texas with the advanced CT scanner.

The LightSpeed scanner, which is manufactured by GE Medical Systems, allows Legacy Heart Center cardiologists to non-invasively capture exceptionally high-resolution images of vascular structures, the heart and coronaries in fewer than five heartbeats, something no other CT system can offer.

It provides images that will allows cardiologists to complete a thorough, non-invasive cardiac exam that show any blockages in the coronary arteries, the pumping action of the heart, the blood flow in the heart muscle and provides a coronary calcium score that can be used to assess a heart disease risk, and do it all in less than five heartbeats.

The addition of the LightSpeed system complements and extends the range of quality diagnostic services that Legacy offers area residents.

Legacy Heart Center’s nuclear laboratory is accredited by the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Laboratories (ICANL), and its echocardiography lab is accredited by a sister organization, the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories (ICAEL), making Legacy the only private cardiology practice with both a fully certified nuclear lab and a fully certified echocardiography lab located in Collin County.

Both the nuclear and the echocardiography labs are among the first laboratories in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico to be recognized for a “commitment to high quality patient care and diagnostic testing,” according to both ICANL and ICAEL.

The cardiologists at Legacy have a history of being on the leading edge of cardiac care. It is the only practice in the DFW Metroplex approved to use the Medtronic CrossPoint© TransAccess© Catheter, which offers a potential alternative to invasive bypass surgery of the leg, and was among the first to offer patients the Cypher Sirolimus-eluting stent for use in opening blocked arteries in the heart. The stent slowly releases a drug coating that helps prevent scar tissue growth, which leads to re-blockage.

The Center is also conducting a number of clinical research studies involving a variety of new pharmaceuticals and medical devices related to cardiac care.

Legacy physicians treat patients at the primary medical centers in Collin County, including Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, Presbyterian Hospital of Plano, Medical Center of McKinney, Centennial Medical Center and Medical Center of Plano.