Tremors, which occur anytime during the daily 24 h cycle, may be missed if monitoring is performed on a short-term basis. Improving this situation requires long-term ambulatory recording capability. There are traditionally two methods for long-term recording of tremors: one is the analog recorder, which is both heavy and inconvenient when transferring data to a PC system; the other is the Actigraph, in which only movement counts are recorded, such data being incomplete. Thus, for long-term and continuous tremor monitoring, this study presents a wrist-worn portable system that can save an entire 24 h tremor wave form in an expansible compact flash memory card. With a rechargeable battery and USB interface, the system has two modes: (1) the monitoring mode while connected to a host computer allows confirmation of system operation, calibration of accelerometers, and immediate display of data on a PC screen and (2) the collecting mode saves data during daily activity on the compact flash memory card within the device. After collection, data are accessed to a host computer for processing. Analysis based on complete tremor wave form including tremor frequency and intensity of 24 h data is expected to allow improved understanding and treatment of tremors.
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