The POGO score represents the percentage of glottic opening seen, defined by the linear span from the anterior commissure to the inter-arytenoid notch. The POGO score has been extensively validated in the literature and demonstrated high inter-rater reliability. Subdividing glottic opening into quarters is intuitive, simple and easily communicated. The descriptive nature of these POGO scores is readily understood with minimal explanation and does not require any additional knowledge of anatomy other than the view of the vocal cords. Furthermore, using POGO scores may also have the advantage of allowing disease progression in Head and Neck pathology to be recorded where the POGO score may have changed with subsequent tracheal intubations. Decreasing POGO with serial/subsequent intubation may be concerning and you may see this impact in the third part of the VCI score (or lead to a change of blade or technique completely).
