Edgar Schrader moved to Longmont, Colorado, with his wife two years ago to be near their daughter and three grandchildren. They moved from South Carolina, where Schrader concluded a long career in electronics with a 28-year stint as a broadcasting engineer at Clemson University.

Schrader, 77, worked with the university’s public relations team, doing plenty of work with the athletic department and agriculture extension service. The job was varied and satisfying, he said.

“There was something different every day,” Schrader said.

The move to Colorado ushered in more change. Schrader and his wife have lived in their daughter’s basement while they built an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, on the lot. The project has meant moving their belongings out of the basement, planting flower beds and trees and laying a pea gravel path.

Benign prostatic hyperplasia becomes an unwelcome and consistent problem

For about five years, however, one factor has been a constant in Schrader’s life. He has benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), commonly called an enlarged prostate. It affects about a third of all men 65 or older.

The prostate, normally a gland about the size of a walnut, lies between the bladder and rectum. As men age, the prostate typically enlarges, but with BPH, the growth causes problems that include a frequent need to urinate, weakened urine flow and an increased risk of urinary tract infections and damage to the bladder and kidneys.

BPH thrust a double whammy on Schrader during his nighttime trips to the bathroom. He had to urinate more and more frequently at the same time that his flow weakened.

“It got worse the last couple of years,” he said.

By early 2024, his BPH forced him out of bed four to six times a night. He cut back on drinking fluids in the evening and took combinations of medications, including doxazosin and alfuzosin to increase urine flow, and Proscar to shrink the prostate. The efforts produced minimal relief.

“It was a real nuisance to deal with,” Schrader said.

A midday nap became a necessity, although he notes that he also has asthma and COPD, which may have also played a role in his fatigue.

An innovative approach to treating BPH

Today, Schrader’s BPH problems are a thing of the past, thanks to a minimally invasive, robot-assisted procedure called aquablation that he received in April 2025 at UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont. The procedure involves a doctor removing tissue from the prostate via a heat-free stream of water, while preserving areas of the gland that are vital for sexual function.

The FDA approved aquablation to treat BPH in 2017, but Schrader was among the first patients at UCHealth to receive the “newest generation” of the procedure, said Dr. Chad DeRosa, a urologist at Longs Peak Hospital.

DeRosa used the Hydros Robotic System from San Jose, California-based Procept Biorobotics. It is the first aquablation system to use artificial intelligence (AI) as an ally for the doctor, he said. He noted that UCHealth is among only a few hospitals that offer it in Colorado.

In short, the doctor inserts an ultrasound-guided probe into the prostate, which offers a full view of the gland. The doctor and AI team up to develop a plan to precisely remove and preserve tissue.

“AI helps with placing markers in certain areas of the prostate that we want to remove,” DeRosa said. AI is an assistant, not a decision maker, he stressed. “The surgeon has the ultimate call on the planning and the procedure.”

With the planning stage complete, the doctor uses robot assistance to deliver a concentrated stream of water along the precise area mapped to remove tissue. They complete the work using a loop to clean out any remaining tissue and also to cauterize the area to stop the bleeding.

BPH vs. TURP

DeRosa said the longtime “gold standard” treatment for treating BPH with surgery was transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). However, the five-year WATER trial showed that aquablation produced better results than TURP, including less incontinence and sexual dysfunction.

The new system also shortens a patient’s stay. DeRosa, who estimated he has performed 50 of the Hydros procedures since the beginning of the year, said that early on, patients stayed in the hospital overnight, but now 90% go home the same day. A TURP procedure usually requires that the patient stay in the hospital for one to three days.

The biggest downside for patients is that they must wear a catheter, generally for three to seven days after the procedure. The upside: after removing the catheter, most patients are able to go off their medications, which can produce a variety of sexual and other side effects, DeRosa said.

Begone, BPH

Edgar Schrader did stay in the hospital overnight after his procedure, and he endured the catheter, which he labeled a “necessary nuisance,” for about a week. The benefits, he said, vastly outweighed these relatively minor inconveniences. For example, he was surprised that he awoke with no pain after DeRosa completed his work.

An even more pleasant shock awaited him after the catheter came out.

“I was totally amazed when I went to the bathroom,” he said. Instead of the usual long wait for relief, Schrader felt his urine flowing normally.

“It starts 100 times better than before the procedure,” Schrader said, adding that he now gets up no more than one time during the night.

He also no longer takes his BPH medications, doesn’t worry about drinking fluids before bed, and feels his energy levels are a little higher than they have been the past few years.

A welcome decision with help from UCHealth

After years of frustration tied to his BPH, Schrader said he is happy he discovered aquablation after seeing an advertisement for it on a billboard, doing his own research, and talking it over with DeRosa, who answered all the questions he needed to make a decision.

“I felt confident with him that it was legitimate,” Schrader said. He also praised the care he received at Longs Peak Hospital, which is just a couple of miles from his daughter’s home in Longmont.

“It was great care; we were very pleased,” he said. “There were no problems.”

For his part, DeRosa is equally pleased to help patients like Edgar solve their BPH problems and regain a measure of control over their lives.

“We have guys who have been on two or three meds, and can come of all of them,” he said. “That is very significant.”