But according to Nick George Nichopoulos, Elvis's doctor for the last 12 years of his life, the singer died of chronic constipation, which was also responsible for his drastic weight gain in the years before his death.
The doctor, who attempted to resuscitate Elvis on the day of his death, said that it wasn't until the autopsy that he realised how severe the constipation had been, Daily Mail reported online.Nichopoulos says the autopsy found Elvis's colon to be five to six inches in diameter, compared to an average of two to three inches. And rather than the standard four to five feet long, Elvis's colon was eight to nine feet.
"After he died we weren't sure (of his cause of death) so I continued to do some research and I had some doctors call me from different places and different med schools that were doing research on constipation and different problems you can get into with it.
"I just want to get the story straight – it all made sense with the new research that was done," he said.
The doctor said that he had even offered Elvis a colostomy, to remove part of his bowel but the singer rejected the treatment. And Nichopoulos believes that if Elvis had undergone the treatment he might still be alive today.
"He would get embarrassed, he'd have accidents onstage. He'd have to change clothes and come back because of the way we were trying to treat his constipation. So if they had done the colostomy then, he'd probably still be here. But it wasn't acceptable treatment at that time. Now the treatment is short."
The singer died on August 16, 1977, at the age of just 42. His body was found in the bathroom at his home Graceland.Nichopoulos recently released his book 'The King And Dr Nick', about his time with Elvis, one of the most influential cultural icons of the 20th century.
