Early in 1943 Olds was diagnosed with pericardial disease and Libman-Sacks endocarditis.

The pathology is the same as nonbacterial thrombotic endocarditis except focal necrosis (hematoxylin bodies) can be found only in Libman-Sacks endocarditis.

Libman-Sacks endocarditis (often misspelled Libmann-Sachs) is a form of nonbacterial endocarditis that is seen in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Like NBTE, Libman-Sacks endocarditis involves small vegetations, while infective endocarditis is composed of large vegetations.

The endocarditis of SLE is characteristically noninfective (Libman-Sacks endocarditis), and involves either the mitral valve or the tricuspid valve.

His father died of pneumonia on April 28, 1943, after hospitalization for constrictive pericarditis and Libman-Sacks endocarditis, at the age of 46, just prior to Olds' graduation from West Point.

Also unlike NBTE, Libman-Sacks endocarditis does not seem to have a preferred location of deposition and may form on the undersurfaces of the valves or even on the endocardium.

Another form of sterile endocarditis, is termed Libman-Sacks endocarditis; this form occurs more often in patients with lupus erythematosus and is thought to be due to the deposition of immune complexes.