An ablation catheter is dimensioned for advancement through a vessel of the body. The catheter includes a lumen configured to receive a pressurized electrically conductive fluid. A nozzle is fluidly coupled to the distal end of the pressurizable lumen and configured to direct a jet of the pressurized conductive fluid at a wall of a target vessel, such as a renal artery, to create or expand a hole through the target vessel and to fill the hole and at least some of the space adjacent to the hole with the conductive fluid. An electrical conductor extends at least partially along the catheter and terminates proximate or at the distal end of the pressurizable lumen. The electrical conductor is configured to conduct radiofrequency energy to the conductive fluid sufficient to ablate target tissue, such as perivascular renal nerve tissue, proximate the hole.
