Emergency room doctor Dr. Joe Whittington sent the Internet into a frenzy this week when he shared a simple exercise that he said could be a sign you have a dangerous, silent heart condition.
The test, which Yale cardiologists called the thumb-to-palm test, involves people placing their hand on a table with the palm facing up or holding it out in front of them and running their thumb across the palm.
If the thumb sticks out on the opposite side of the hand, Dr. Whittington said there is 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 emergency room doctor said his thumb’s overreach could be a sign he has a collagen deficiency, which could lead to dangerous inflammation in his 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 as soon as it went viral, Dr. Whittington’s post disappeared and appears to have been removed from his tiktok accountwhich led people to question if what he shared was correct.
How to test: Raise your hand as if you are telling someone to stop or place your hand on a table, palm up (1). With your palm flat, stretch your thumb as far toward your little finger as you can. If your thumb reaches the middle of your palm (2), it is normal. However, if it extends beyond the edge of the hand (3), researchers say this may be a sign of a collagen disorder, which could increase the chance of developing an aneurysm.
Dr. Whittington deleted his original video. In it he said that those with a positive thumb-to-palm test “have a 98 percent chance of having an aneurysm.”
However, before it was eliminated, people panicked.
A TikTok user shared a video of herself performing the test, showing 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 is no need to panic,” he said. on a tiktok responding to Dr. Whittington.
While it’s true that the palm-to-thumb test could be a sign that you have a collagen deficiency, it’s not confirmation that you definitely have an aneurysm, Dr. Panhwar added.
Collagen is a supportive elastic fiber that exists throughout the body and is particularly important in helping blood vessels maintain their shape over time.
If you are deficient in collagen, you may have weaker blood vessels, which are at greater risk of swelling over time due to stress, causing an aneurysm.
Certain collagen disorders have been linked to aneurysms of the ascending aorta, a particularly high-risk region because it is the main blood vessel coming from the heart, meaning it wears out a lot, said Dr. Kenan Yount, a cardiothoracic surgeon at La University of Virginia said in a video.
About eight to ten people with a ruptured aneurysm die before reaching the hospital. according to the NHS. And ruptured aortic aneurysms caused around 9,904 deaths in 2019, according to the latest data from the CDC.
Dr. Yount highlighted conditions such as Marfan syndrome, Ehler-danlos syndrome, and Loeys-Dietz syndrome.
These conditions affect the aorta, but also manifest in other parts of the body, such as the joints. People with collagen disorders often have hypermobile or extremely flexible joints.
The link between collagen disorders and blood vessel dysfunction is where the palm-to-thumb test comes into play.
If you have an ascending aortic aneurysm that grows large enough to require treatment, doctors sometimes implant surgical mesh around the vessel to support it.
Was developed in 2021 after Yale cardiologists examined 305 patients already in the hospital for heart surgery.
Of those, 93 patients were there for an ascending aortic aneurysm, meaning they had an aneurysm at 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 most aneurysm patients do not have a positive palm and thumb sign, but patients who have a positive test have a high probability of harboring an aneurysm,” said study author Dr. John Elefteriades, director emeritus of the Aortic Institute. at Yale New Haven Hospital, he said.
A quarter-million Americans die each year after being misdiagnosed in the ER, federal study suggests
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This means the test could be a signal to consult with your doctor about your risk of developing aneurysms, but it is not a diagnosis of an aneurysm, he said.
And even if you have a positive thumb-to-palm test and it turns out you also have an aneurysm, there’s no reason to panic, since not all aneurysms are emergencies, Dr. Panhwar said.
‘This is not an emergency. These aneurysms usually grow very slowly and many times we simply monitor them each year with ultrasounds or CT scans,” he said on his TikTok.
If your doctors determine that your blood vessel is stretching into dangerous territory, they will send you for a five-hour surgery to support that part of your blood vessel with a flexible sleeve, similar to a garden hose.
Recovery takes between four and six weeks.
If left untreated, an aneurysm can grow so large that stress on the tissue causes the vessel to rupture or burst, Dr. Yount said, adding that “either of those scenarios could be life-threatening.”
Symptoms of an aortic rupture include a tearing sensation in the chest, severe back pain, and dizziness.
The best way to use this test, Dr. Panhwar said, is to use the information obtained from it.
If you have a positive palm-to-thumb test and a family history of a collagen disorder, you should consult your doctor.
He added: “Don’t worry, you won’t die overnight from a ruptured aneurysm.” Go talk to your doctor, that’s all.