Monitoring disposition of tethered capsule endoscope in esophagus

A system for imaging a body lumen of a patient, the system comprising:

• an imaging apparatus comprising a scanning capsule coupled to a flexible tether, the scanning capsule comprising a scanning device disposed within a capsule housing, wherein the scanning capsule is sized to be introduced into the body lumen of the patient by swallowing and advanced along the body lumen with normal peristalsis;
• a reel coupled to the flexible tether;
• and
• one or more processors configured to:
• scan light onto a portion of the body lumen using the scanning device,
• detect light from the portion of the body lumen using a light sensor,
• generate one or more images of the portion of the body lumen in response to the detected light,
• determine a rate for withdrawing the scanning capsule from the body lumen based on the one or more images, and
• withdraw the scanning capsule from the body lumen using the reel according to the determined rate.