Vegetations
Rheumatic fever	Nonbacterial thrombotic	Libman-Sacks endocarditis (SLE)	Infective endocarditis (IE)
Small ,warty	Small ,single, or multiple	Medium sized (small)	Large
Firm	Friable (Produce emboli)	Single or multiple	Bulky
Multiple	Along lines of closure	Flat, verrucous	Irregular
Friable (but less than those of NBTE)		Irregular	On upper surface of cusps
Along lines of closure of valves		On surface of cusps, both surfaces may be  involved; most common being the undersurface , less often on  mural ebdocardium	Less often on mural endocardium
		In pockets of valves
Sterile (no organisms)	Sterile	Sterile	Nonsterile (bacterial)
No destruction of underlying  valves or myocardium	Nondestructive	Destructive, may damage valve or myocardium	Ulcerates of perforates the underlying valve (or myocardium)
Seen in rheumatic fever	Seen in hypercoagulable states, eg, cancer, Promyelocytic leukemia, increased estrogenic state	Seen in SLE	Seen in IE