Actor Matthew Perry’s cause of death revealed

Actor Matthew Perry’s cause of death has been revealed!

Matthew Perry, who gained international recognition in the 1990s for playing Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom Friends, was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles residence on Oct. 28. He was 54.

At that time the cause of death was stated to be from apparent drowning.

However, the report that was released on Friday from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner arriving nearly seven weeks after Perry’s death has revealed the actual cause of death.

The medical examiner’s office said that drowning, coronary artery disease and the effects of an opioid, buprenorphine, had contributed to his death.

Matthew Perry died from the “acute effects” of ketamine, an anaesthetic with psychedelic properties, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said in an autopsy report.

The autopsy report added that Perry had been on ketamine infusion therapy but that the ketamine in his system could not have been from his last known therapy session, which was about a week and a half before he died.

“At the high levels of ketamine found in his postmortem blood specimens, the main lethal effects would be from both cardiovascular overstimulation and respiratory depression,” the autopsy report said.

“Toxicology tests found ketamine, a short-acting anaesthetic with hallucinogenic properties, in Perry’s body at high levels well within the range typically associated with general anaesthesia used in monitored surgical care, the report said.

“Matthew Perry’s cause of death is determined to be from the acute effects of ketamine,” the autopsy concluded.

The late “Friends” star had publicly struggled with drinking and drug use for decades.

Ketamine is a powerful anaesthetic that has become increasingly popular as an alternative therapy for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other hard-to-treat mental health problems.