Petal Surgical says its first-in-human incisionless surgery is coming soon and offers a first glimpse of its system

Petal Surgical is “moving out of the lab” and toward human trials of its incisionless surgery platform in the near future, the surgical tech startup tells MassDevice.

The histotripsy developer is almost finished with its controlled, in-vivo preclinical studies, saying they will yield a first-of-its kind dataset demonstrating “the extent to which [the] platform can control not just where and what they treat, but how much, and a few other proprietary advantages to be unveiled over time.”

Petal Surgical also shared the image you see here of what it described as its deep-tech-to-patient interface.

In a statement shared with MassDevice, the company said it believes that interface is “the foundation for a new class of interventions [that] deploy millisecond-pulse histotripsy via breakthroughs in physical AI and biophysics to predictably and repeatable destroy targeted tissue at millimeter resolution with sound waves alone, without any incisions whatsoever.”

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In a MassDevice interview, Petal Surgical co-founder and CEO Prash Chopra declined to discuss in detail what was depicted in the image, though it looks similar to the treatment device pictured in the Petal Surgical illustration below.

“Consider it as a glimpse into what a patient would be experiencing, seeing and envisioning around them,” Chopra said. “The image is less about technology or any specific clinical indication. It is extraordinarily, intentionally focused on a first incisionless surgical patient experience, and it’s a prelude to what we plan to unveil more of in the near future.”

He later continued, “We have achieved enough of a technical proficiency in our approach to incisionless surgery that we now believe in the near future a human would be able to experience a convergence of the best-in-class technologies and the best-in-class human experience together.”

Chopra said his company has selected a site for the first-in-human procedure and a targeted procedure, but could not publicly share them at this time or say when they hope to conduct that first case.

“The best I can share right now is we are close,” Chopra said. “We are not looking at multiple years, but we are also not looking at a few days.”

The startup’s technology combines histotripsy with robotics and artificial intelligence for acoustic liquefaction that destroys targeted tissue without heat or trauma.

Previously: Can Petal cut the cuts from surgery?

“This marks a major inflection point for incisionless surgery, where first-of-its-kind treatments that were once experimental move closer to reality and being precise, predictable and repeatable,” the company said. “The scale of the problem is enormous with millions of patients around the world facing death or permanent disability as a direct result of surgical complications, even if the underlying disease is treatable.”

Chopra launched Petal with three other founders: neurosurgeon Dr. Bowen Jiang, robot-assisted spine surgery pioneer Dr. Nicholas Theodore, and Mako Surgical co-founder Rony Abovitz.

The startup emerged from stealth mode in October 2025 and has raised more than $25 million from investors including Intuitive Surgical co-founder Dr. Fred Moll, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, Draper Associates, Blue Pool Capital, Actions Capital, ShangBay Capital, TSVC, Salience Capital, and A&E Investments.

Read more from our interview with Chopra at Medical Design & Outsourcing.