  Reactive hyperemia is a well-established technique for the non-invasive
evaluation of the peripheral microcirculatory function, measured as the
magnitude of limb re-perfusion after a brief period of ischemia. Despite
widespread adoption by researchers and clinicians alike, many uncertainties
remain surrounding interpretation, compounded by patient-specific confounding
factors (such as blood pressure or the metabolic rate of the ischemic limb).
Mathematical modeling can accelerate our understanding of the physiology
underlying the reactive hyperemia response and guide in the estimation of
quantities which are difficult to measure experimentally. In this work, we aim
to provide a comprehensive guide for mathematical modeling techniques that can
be used for describing the key phenomena involved in the reactive hyperemia
response, alongside their limitations and advantages. The reported
methodologies can be used for investigating specific reactive hyperemia aspects
alone, or can be combined into a computational framework to be used in
(pre-)clinical settings.
