Systems for cardiac ablation and associated methods

A method comprising:

• receiving one or more electrograms measured by one or more sensors carried by a catheter;
• controlling a generator to deliver reversible energy to one or more electrodes carried by the catheter to temporarily alter electrical activity of first target tissue of an anatomical structure of a patient;
• detecting a change in the one or more electrograms in response to the reversible energy;
• identifying second target tissue of the anatomical structure based on the detected change in the one or more electrograms;
• and
• controlling the generator to deliver irreversible energy to the one or more electrodes carried by the catheter to permanently alter the second target tissue.

A system, comprising:

• a catheter including a tip section extending from a distal end of a shaft, the tip section including a deformable portion having a cross-sectional dimension larger than a cross-sectional dimension of the shaft, the deformable portion includes one or more electrodes and one or more sensors;
• a generator having an output coupled to the one or more electrodes and configured to deliver electrical energy to the one or more electrodes;
• and
• an interface unit coupled to the catheter and the generator, the interface unit comprising:
• a processor;
• and
• a memory operably coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when
• executed by the processor, cause the processor to at least:
• receive one or more electrograms measured by the one or more sensors;
• control the generator to deliver reversible energy to first target tissue of an anatomical structure of a patient via the one or more electrodes, wherein the reversible energy is adapted to temporarily alter electrical activity of first target tissue;
• detect a change in the one or more electrograms in response to the reversible energy;
• identify second target tissue based on the detected change in the one or more electrograms;
• and
• control the generator to deliver irreversible energy to the second target tissue via the one or more electrodes.