50 years old? Injections, nsaids, and physical therapy. Physical therapy works surprisingly well for patella disorders. I would exhaust all options for signing up for a procedure. And if you’re symptoms only bother you from higher level activities, maybe consider giving those up. That said, if all else fails....it really depends on what the knee looks like. Is this a focal cartilage defect or patella-femoral arthritis? What’s the rest of the knee look like? Is there arthritis any where else in the knee?
its super hard for anyone to give you good advice on here because these decisions are very nuanced. That said...the allograft oats procedure you’re talking about is usually done in younger people (under 30). Unless there is something unusual (which there could be) going on, joint preservation isn’t very common in 50 year olds. Trying to replace cartilage at that age just doesn’t work reliably well. I’d be looking into patella femoral replacements if you have isolated patella arthritis and have exhausted all non-operative measures. If you have more extensive arthritis, 50 isn’t an outrageous age to get a full knee replacement done. Personally, I’d get a second or third opinion before signing up for that surgery.