ER doctor claims simple thumb test can tell if you'll suffer a deadly ruptured artery... but is he right?

Emergency medicine physician Dr Joe Whittington sent the internet into a frenzy this week when he shared a simple exercise he said could be a sign you have a silent dangerous heart condition. 

The test, which was coined the thumb-to-palm test by Yale cardiologists, has people lay their hand flat on a table with their palm up or hold it out in front of them and reach their thumb across their palm. 

If the thumb protrudes off the opposite side of the hand, Dr Whittington said you have a 98 percent chance of having an aortic aneurysm - a dangerous bulge that could burst in the artery that carries blood from the heart. 

The ER doctor claimed the far reach of your thumb could be a sign you have a collagen deficiency, which could lead to dangerous swelling in your arteries. 

'Studies have shown that while not everyone with an aortic aneurysm has a positive test, those with a positive test have a 98 percent chance of having an aneurysm,' the California-based doctor said. 

But just as soon as it went viral, Dr Whittington's post vanished and it appears to have been deleted from his TikTok account, prompting people to question whether what he shared was correct.

How to perform the test: Hold your hand up as if you're telling someone to stop or lay your hand flat on a table, palm up (1). With your palm flat, stretch your thumb as far as you can across it, towards your pinky finger. If your thumb reaches the middle of the palm (2) that is normal. However, if it stretches past the edge of your hand (3), researchers say this may be a sign of a collagen disorder, which could increase your likelihood of developing aneurysm

Dr Whittington deleted his original video. In it he said those with a positive thumb to palm test 'have a 98 percent change of having an aneurysm.'

Before it was deleted, however, it sent people into a panic. 

One TikTok user shared a video of herself trying the test, which saw her thumb hanging over the edge of her palm with the caption 'Should I be worried?' 

Another commented on the post: 'Oh great. Now I need another support group for my TikTok anxiety.' 

The science behind the test is complicated, according to Dr Muhammad Siyad Panhwar, an interventional cardiologist at Sanford Health. 

'There's no need for panic', he said in a TikTok responding to Dr Whittington.  

While it's true the palm to thumb test could be a sign that you have a collagen deficiency, it's not a confirmation that you definitely have an aneurysm, Dr Panhwar added. 

Collagen is a stretchy, supportive fiber that exists all over the body - and is particularly important in helping blood vessels hold their shape over time. 

If you are deficient in collagen, you could have weaker blood vessels, which are more at risk for ballooning out over time with stress, causing an aneurysm.

Certain collagen disorders have been linked to aneurysms of the ascending aorta, a particularly high-risk region because it's the main blood vessel that stems from the heart, meaning it gets a lot of wear and tear, Dr Kenan Yount, a cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of Virginia said in a video. 

Roughly eight and 10 people who have a ruptured aneurysm die before reaching the hospital, according to the NHS. And aortic aneurysm ruptures caused about 9,904 deaths in 2019, according to the latest data from the CDC. 

Dr Yount highlighted conditions like Marfan's syndrome, Ehler's-danlos and Loeys-Dietz syndrome. 

These conditions effect your aorta, but also manifest in other parts of your body - like in your joints. People with collagen disorders frequently have hypermobile, or extremely flexible, joints. 

The link between collagen disorders and blood vessel dysfunction is where the palm to thumb test comes in.

If you have an ascending aortic aneurysm that becomes large enough that it requires treatment, doctors sometimes implant a surgical mesh around the vessel to support it. 

It was developed in 2021 after cardiologists at Yale examined 305 patients that were already in the hospital for heart surgery. 

Of those, 93 patients were there for an ascending aortic aneurysm - meaning they had an aneurysm on the top of the blood vessel that protrudes from the heart. 

Ninety-eight percent of those 93 patients had a positive thumb to palm test, which could be what Dr Whittington based his claim on. 

'Our study showed that the majority of aneurysm patients do not manifest a positive thumb-palm sign, but patients who do have a positive test have a high likelihood of harboring an aneurysm,' study author Dr John Elefteriades, emeritus director of the Aortic Institute at Yale New Haven Hospital, said. 

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This means the test could be a sign to check in with your doctor about your risk for developing aneurysms, but it isn't a diagnosis of an aneurysm, he said. 

And even if you do have a positive thumb to palm test and it turns out you also have an aneurysm, that's no reason to panic as not all aneurysms are emergencies, Dr Panhwar said. 

'This is not an emergency. These aneurysms typically grow very slowly and a lot of the time we just monitor them every year with ultrasounds or CAT scans,' he said in his TikTok. 

If your doctors determine your blood vessel is stretching into dangerous territory, they'll send you in for a five-hour surgery to support that part of your blood vessel with a flexible sleeve, similar to a garden hose. 

Recovery takes about four to six weeks.

If left untreated, an aneurysm can get so large the tension on the tissue causes the vessel to rip or burst, Dr Yount said, adding that, 'either of those scenarios could be life-threatening.' 

Symptoms of a ruptured aorta include a ripping sensation in the chest, severe back pain and dizziness. 

The best way to use this test, Dr Panhwar said, is to utilize the information gained from it.

If you have a positive palm to thumb test and a family history of a collagen disorder, you should check in with your doctor. 

He added: 'Don't worry, you're not going to die at night of a burst aneurysm. Just go talk to your doctor, that's all.'