Duke Center for Metabolic and Weight Loss Surgery Hospital

Dr Sudan is very professional and extremely skilled. He's a driven and passionate surgeon who listens to his patient attentively and acts accordingly while keeping patient expectations realistic and down to earth. He's always clear about what going on or what's going to happen and has no time for games, frivolous conversations. He takes his job very seriously (as he should). He has a skilled support team of professionals behind him, all highly skilled, reliable and always helpful.
He uses state of the art robotic system to assist with his work making the procedure safer for the patient and reducing recovery time drastically. Not a once of doubt in my mind when it come to the right person for the job. Ranjan Sudan is the man!

I've met with Dr. Portenier only once, and I am still pre-op, so I will update this over time. So far, though, I like him. It's nice to have a doctor that "gets" me. He answered all my questions and while he was running behind the day of my appointment, once he was in the room I felt that I had his undivided attention. I have nothing negative to say about the support staff at Duke, either -- every time I've called I've received a phone call back pretty quickly. So far, so good.

I have only met Dr. Portenier once so it may be a bit premature to complete a review regarding his services. However,I can honestly same that the staff at Duke WLS leave much to be desired in the area of customer service. In my experience, they do not answer or return phone calls. They truly seem unmotivated to address the patients needs or questions. I realize that many patients trust the well deserved reputation of Duke Univ. Medical Center for being on the cutting edge of medical technology but it doesn't take a genius to pick up the phone.

Dr Sudan is a very serious man who cares about his patients and truly wants to see us succeed at gaining a life free of obesity. He performed my biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch on 9-20-2011. The operation started around 7 AM and because of an unexpected gall bladder full of stones that had to be removed lasted 9 hours (give or take). Other than problems with my IV line (narrow veins...why they didn't put in a PICC line to begin with?!?!) my recovery has been uneventful and here I am less than a week later at home to get on with my new life. I would and have recommended Dr Sudan to other future bariatric patients. Don't expect to joke and laugh with him since he seems to be very reserved and dignified. However, I didn't want a surgeon who could be charming and funny...I wanted a top-notch bariatric surgeon who could get me safely through the operation!!! Dr Sudan definitely did that and I look forward to working with him and his staff to meet the goals I have set for myself.

I can only review Dr.Portenier for those things I've experienced. My surgery went very well overall so I can give him props for the "cut/paste" since it was supposedly under his hand. I met the Dr. one time - but luckily met his surgical intern the same day. Dr.Portenier spoke loudly enough that I actually wondered about HIS hearing. He was friendly enough and seemed to know his business - was able to answer most of my questions as long as they applied to the surgery and not the more overall services. However, I did not see him - nor did my family - at ALL the day of my surgery. He called for me to come up to the OR early and then still did not take me until after my scheduled time. Even though I was then running a little late - they did not tell my family that so my family thought I'd been in surgery for hours when I really had just gotten into the OR. After the surgery, instead of meeting with my folks, the doctor asked them (via a nurse) to call the OR so that he could speak to them. My mother believed the worst and was in tears. In reality, Dr.Portenier had just moved on to the next patient - I can only hope that he/she was not open on the surgical table waiting as he spoke with my family over the phone! I was not able to see Dr.Portenier at the 3week follow up either as he was unavailable. All of the other staff members at the Duke Weight Loss Center have been great - but Dr.Portenier has not yet earned my stars. I mentioned this to his nurse and she suggested that we schedule my next appointment on a day that he was sure to be around and she would make a point of pulling him into our appointment. That sounds good, but isn't it a shame that such needs to be done in order for a doctor to actually see his own patient!

Love him and Dr. Lee, They are the best!

Dr. Ranjan Sudan is a wonderful surgeon. He has a wealth of knowledge. I highly recommend him for the RNY procedure. He is somewhat humble about all of his accomplishments that I have read about. I also loved his nurse practitioner, Kitza. She is great! So far I have no complaints about the Duke Weight Loss Surgery Center or Durham Regional Hospital. Everything went well. My recovery was slower than I had hoped, but I think that was just me.

My first impression of Dr. Portenier was very good. He was very informative and took the time to answer in depth all of my questions. My surgery went so much better than i expected. I had virtually no soreness after the first 24 hours and his PA was so good during aftercare. I am two weeks post op and will see him again in one week. The only complaint I had was with the triage nurse at the clinic, Barbara. She was abrupt with me on the phone when I called 3 days post op with a question about my fluids. She needs to remember that we the patients and our insurance companies are paying her salary. I plan to let Dr. Portenier know, but that was the only problem I've had with Duke WLS Clinic. Everything else.......BRAVO!!!!!

Dr. Sudan is a great Doctor. He is quiet, but he knows his stuff. He is very confident in his work and does a great job. My surgery went well. The staff at Duke did a great Job at returning my calls and the insurance department did a great job at getting all of the required papers and documentation that I needed to get insurance approval. I look forword to working with Dr. Sudan in maining my aftercare. He's a great Doctor!

I was assigned to Dr. Yoo in November and I met him as I was getting ready to be wheeled into surgery. I saw him once while I was in the hospital. That is the bad news. The good news is that he definitely inspired confidence both times I saw him. I saw his assistant regularly and she, too, was very competent as well as nice and attentive. More important to me than bedside manner is the fact that my surgery went without a hitch. I was off pain and nausea meds within two days of being home and I feel great.
I was originally scheduled for surgery at Durham Regional but Dr. Yoo asked me to switch to Duke Raleigh. Everybody was great.
I am expecting to actually see Dr. Yoo again a week from today for my 3 week followup. If he isn't there for that, it might upset me and I will have to change my rating!