Air Leak is an Important Cause of False Trigger and Early Trigger

All these breaths appear to be patient-triggered, as indicated by the pressure drop before each inspiration. However, this pressure drop is actually caused by a large leak from the mask, leading to a breath being delivered—this is known as a false trigger or auto-trigger. The expiratory limb of the volume- time scalar fails to reach the baseline before the next breath because of a significant leak. Additionally, the area under the expiratory flow-time scalar is much smaller compared to the inspiratory flow-time scalar. 

In the pressure-time scalar, a pressure drop during mid-inspiration reflects the patient's neural inspiration. This is also evident in the inspiratory flow-time scalar, where increased flow coincides with the patient’s neural inspiration. Each breath is delivered before the onset of neural inspiration due to this false trigger caused by the air leak, a phenomenon referred to as early triggering.