Cardiac ablation planning and restriction of ablation to electrodes in proximity to the planned ablation zone

A system to perform electroporation ablation of a tissue in a chamber of a patient’s heart, the system comprising:

• a catheter including an electrode assembly having a plurality of ablation electrodes, wherein the catheter is adapted to position the electrode assembly in proximity with the tissue;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• receive a planned ablation zone on an electroanatomical map of the heart, the planned ablation zone representative of a target tissue on a surface of the tissue intended for ablation;
• identify, from among the plurality of ablation electrodes, a first subset of ablation electrodes that are in contact with the target tissue within a predetermined proximity to the planned ablation zone, and a second subset of ablation electrodes that are not in contact with the target tissue within the predetermined proximity to the planned ablation zone;
• apply a pulsed electrical signal to the first subset of ablation electrodes and not to the second subset of ablation electrodes;
• and
• generate a visualization of the planned ablation zone with respect to the tissue.

A method of performing electroporation ablation of a tissue in a chamber of a patient’s heart, comprising a catheter including an electrode assembly having a plurality of ablation electrodes, wherein the catheter is adapted to position the electrode assembly in proximity with the tissue, the method comprising:

• receiving a planned ablation zone on an electroanatomical map of the heart, the planned ablation zone representative of a target tissue on a surface of the tissue intended for ablation;
• identifying, from among the plurality of ablation electrodes, a first subset of ablation electrodes that are within a predetermined proximity to the planned ablation zone, and a second subset of ablation electrodes that are not within the predetermined proximity to the planned ablation zone;
• and
• applying a pulsed electrical signal to the first subset of ablation electrodes and not to the second subset of ablation electrodes.