Stephen Gately died of SAD Syndrome

London (ANI): Singer Stephen Gately from the band Boyzone could have died of 'Sudden Adult Death Syndrome,' medical experts believe. The preliminary reports of post mortem have suggested that the singer died of natural causes following which the officials have dismissed the report that he had choked to death on his own vomit.

"That did not cause his death," the Telegraph quoted a court official as saying. "Preliminary results of the autopsy found acute pulmonary oedema indicating Stephen Gately died of natural causes," the official added. Meanwhile, medical experts are of the opinion that the death must have been caused by an undiagnosed heart condition.

Dr Sanjay Sharma, a consultant cardiologist at Kings Hospital and the UK's leading expert on Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS), explained: "It shows his lungs have been water-logged very suddenly suggesting the heart had failed. In layman's terms that is a heart attack. In young people like Stephen, under 35, the vast majority of cases are caused by either hereditary diseases affecting the heart muscle itself or an electrical fault of the heart."

"If I was a betting man I would say it was an electrical fault, when the heart goes into a fatally fast rhythm, around 300 beats a minute. That would only need to happen for a couple of minutes to result in death. A medic would have had to have got to him within minutes. Often in these cases a first symptom of the condition is death, however he may have suffered palpitations and or blackouts."

Spanish authorities have revealed that the singer's toxicology results would take several weeks to be out, but the tissue and fluid samples taken during the post-mortem would be sent to a forensic laboratory in Barcelona for further tests. The court official added: "The judge is sending samples away for analysis and if these steps confirm natural causes the case will be closed."

Gately had died at his apartment in Palma, Majorca after an alleged eight-hour drinking binge while on a holiday.