A medical probe assembly, tissue treatment system, and method are provided
for ablating tissue. The probe assembly comprises an elongated member and
electrode elements mechanically coupled to the distal end of the
elongated member. The electrode elements are configurable as two bipolar
electrode pairs with a common electrode element. At least one of the
electrode elements comprises a plurality of electrodes (such as, e.g.,
needle electrodes) radially extendable from the elongated member. An
ablation source, such as a radio frequency source, can be connected to
the probe assembly in order to convey ablation energy to the electrode
pairs, either simultaneously or sequentially.