Chondrocyte transplant surgery-knee

Our 20 year old son (football player) injured his right knee.  The MRI was inconclusive, but the doctor recommended an arthroscopy.  Nik had the surgery in January, and the doctor found some defects (areas of missing cartilage at the end of the femur,2-3 cm.)  He told Nik not to play football until he had a chondrocyte transplant.  (no arthritits, so a good candidate for autologous chondrocyte transplantation.) The doctor gave us a DVD of the surery. Nik turned down all football scholarship offers (and there were alot of them!)  We expected the surgery to take place in April and were prepared for a grueling rehab following the surgery.  Blue Crss just denied authorization.  Now I am thinking a 2nd opinion might be useful.  Are there any alternative treatments other than knee replacements for cartilage damage and missing cartilage?  Is there a cholndrucyte replacement support group?  

[abhijeet v ghosh]

hi jjonte,
with a young age and active profile, chondrocyte transplantation is a good idea.
Other modalities like chondral picking/mossaic plasty/ chondrocyte reimplantation, etc also are good options.