Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of rock ‘n’ roll legend Elvis, died of a bowel obstruction, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office has said.
The obstruction was a result of adhesions caused by weight-loss surgery she underwent several years ago.
Presley, also a singer, died after being rushed to a California hospital on 12 January. She was 54.
Her last public appearance was two days before her death, at the Golden Globes.
At the time of Presley’s death, local officials said first responders had been dispatched to her home in Calabasas, where they found her in cardiac arrest.
On Thursday, the medical examiner’s office ruled that she died of natural causes and said that the cardiac arrest was caused by a “small bowel obstruction”.
This occurs when the small intestine is blocked, sometimes as a result of colon cancer, medication or adhesions (scar tissue) that form after surgeries. Some conditions that inflame intestines can also lead to small bowel obstructions.
In Presley’s case, the report found that the adhesions were caused by weight-loss surgery, known as bariatric surgery, that she underwent several years ago.
“This is a known long-term complication of this type of surgery,” the medical examiner’s report noted.
